Partners in drug trafficking hub sent to prison

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Two Rio Grande Valley residents have been sentenced in for drug and money laundering conspiracies, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Luis Ortiz III, 43, Mission, pleaded guilty June 21, 2019, while Rodolfo Hernandez Ramos 44, Los Fresnos, entered his plea Aug. 9, 2019, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 or more kilograms of marijuana. They also admitted to a conspiracy to launder drug proceeds in the form of bulk U.S. currency between July 1, 2014, and March 19, 2019.

U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos has now ordered Ramos to serve a total of 135 months in federal prison while Ortiz was ordered to serve 100 months imprisonment.

The investigation focused on a group of cocaine and marijuana distributors in the Rio Grande Valley and their sources of drugs who smuggled these drugs into the United States from Mexico. Drugs were smuggled into the country in passenger vehicles, large trucks and dropped from aircraft.

Ramos and Ortiz worked within the drug trafficking organization by operating stash houses to prepare the drugs for shipment within the United States. The partnership also used trucks to deliver cocaine and marijuana to the customers in 22 other states. Both men were also responsible for having the proceeds of the drug sales transported back to South Texas for delivery to the suppliers.

Ramos has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility to be determined in the near future. Luis Ortiz III was permitted to remain to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender at a later date.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and IRS – Criminal Investigation conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found on the Department of Justice’s OCDETF webpage.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Cusick prosecuted the case.