Drug Conspiracy Leader Is Sentenced To Over 10 Years

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced today David Flores, 35, of Dallas, Texas, to 121 months in prison and five years of supervised release on drug conspiracy charges, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office, joins U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, Flores was part of a drug conspiracy that trafficked cocaine from Texas to North Carolina.  In October 2017, DEA agents seized 23 kilograms of cocaine near Nashville, Tennessee, from a vehicle en route to North Carolina.  According to court documents, the driver and passenger of the vehicle had been contracted by Flores to transport the cocaine from Texas to members of the drug conspiracy located in Lincolnton, N.C.  Two other members of the conspiracy served as cocaine distributors, operating out of a residence in Maiden, N.C.

Flores, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.  He is currently in federal custody and will be transported to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.  Flores’s co-conspirators were previously sentenced as follows:

• Saul Martinez-Ochoa – 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release.
• Alexander Garoutte – 80 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
• Ruben Silva-Malicote – 46 months in prison and two years of supervised release.

The DEA, Tennessee State Police, and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office were part of the investigation of the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Bozin was in charge of the prosecution.

This case is the result of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  OCDETF 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 drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.