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Press Release

Lake Charles Man, Mexican National Sentenced for Roles in Drug Distribution Ring

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Lake Charles man and a Mexican national were sentenced to seven months (time served) and 44 months in prison respectively for transporting and possessing marijuana.

Bertoldo Tolo Labra, 31, of Lake Charles, La., and Juan Antonio Garcia, 58, of Mexico, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik on one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Labra was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, and Garcia was sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to evidence presented at the guilty pleas, the defendants admitted to transporting multi-kilograms quantities of marijuana at the direction of co-defendant Rogelio Cantu-Lopez in June and July of 2013 from Houston to a trailer in Moss Bluff, La. The marijuana was then sold to a third party.

The defendants were arrested as part of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation Cajun Gallo. The DEA, the George West Police Department in Texas, and the Houston Police Department participated in this OCDETF investigation. The OCDETF program is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations, and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle targeted criminal organizations and seize their assets.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard C. Parker prosecuted the case.

Updated February 9, 2015