Leader of Cocaine Trafficking Conspiracy Related to Mexico’s Gulf Cartel Is Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison

DALLAS—Hector Omero Rodriguez, a/k/a “Guero” and “Papalote,” of Allen, Texas, was sentenced on Friday by Chief U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to 20 years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Rodriguez, 35, of Allen, Texas, was one of 22 members of cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking cells that were arrested on September 16, 2008, in a coordinated enforcement action as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led “Project Reckoning.” In that operation, which included both “Operation Dos Equis,” an investigation into a Mexican cocaine distribution organization, and “Operation Vertigo,” an investigation of a methamphetamine distribution organization, more than $1 million in cash, approximately 300 kilograms of cocaine, approximately 400 pounds of methamphetamine and approximately 20 weapons were seized.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in mid-June 2009 to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and one count of conspiracy to conduct money laundering. He and 20 co-defendants were indicted on charges related to their operation of a cocaine-trafficking cell, associated with Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, that operated in and around the Dallas area. A total of 13 defendants have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 51 to 262 months. Three defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Four defendants remain fugitives.

Defendant Uriel Palacios, 23, of Dallas, who pleaded guilty to the same charges as Rodriguez, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Fitzwater on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Palacios has been in custody since his arrest in September 2008 in Dallas County on unrelated charges.

Rodriguez admitted that from November 2007 until the time of his arrest, he was a member of a drug trafficking and money laundering operation in North Texas and elsewhere. During the course of the investigation into the cocaine conspiracy, DEA agents intercepted numerous telephone conversations involving various members of the organization, including Hector Rodriguez, discussing the distribution of large quantities of cocaine. For example, onecall intercepted in July 2008 revealed that Hector Rodriguez requested that Uriel Palacios deliver 50 kilograms of cocaine to defendant Juan Hernandez at the Elegante Hotel.

Rodriguez, and others in the organization, received large quantities of cash, including profits, from the sale of cocaine and in turn, Rodriguez arranged to have that cash, secreted in tractor-trailers, shipped to Mexico so that more cocaine could be sent to the U.S. In May 2008, agents learned that Rodriguez wanted Palacios to meet with a courier and give that courier drug proceeds for delivery to Mexico. Palacios met with the courier at a repair shop and delivered a large suitcase to him. The courier was eventually stopped by law enforcement in Austin, Texas, and the suitcase that Palacios delivered to him, containing nearly $1.3 million in U.S. currency, was seized.

DEA, Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation, FBI, North Texas HIDTA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Dallas Police Department, Fort Worth Police Department, Arlington Police Department, Grand Prairie Police Department, Farmers Branch Police Department, Coppell Police Department, Richardson Police Department, Waxahachie Police Department, Dallas County Sheriff’s Office participated in this investigation.