Chicago Man Facing Federal Drug Charge After Agents Seize More Than 50 Kilograms of Heroin and Cocaine from South Side Attic

CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been charged with a federal drug violation after agents seized more than 50 kilograms of heroin and cocaine from his attic apartment on the South Side.

MARCELINO NUNEZ-HURTADO, 47, is charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. On Aug. 22, 2017, agents searched an attic apartment Nunez-Hurtado rented in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood and discovered tools used to measure and package narcotics, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Chicago. After noticing a screwdriver on the floor just inside the attic door, agents discovered an access panel above the landing of the stairs leading to the attic, the complaint states. The panel led to a compartment where agents discovered numerous rectangular bricks of heroin weighing more than 41 kilograms, and multiple bricks of cocaine weighing more than nine kilograms, the complaint states.

Nunez-Hurtado was arrested on Sept. 13, 2017. A detention hearing is scheduled for Sept. 26, 2017, at 2:30 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason in Chicago.

The complaint was announced by Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and James M. Gibbons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago.

According to the complaint, ICE uncovered the alleged drug trafficking through the use of a confidential informant and extensive surveillance. The informant provided information in July that Nunez-Hurtado was involved in drug trafficking activities throughout the Chicago area, the complaint states. Hours before the attic search, agents observed Nunez-Hurtado hand suspected cocaine to an individual sitting in the passenger seat of a Cadillac Escalade parked in an alley behind the Gage Park residence, the complaint states.

The drug charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebekah Holman.