Several Laredoans Get Massive Sentences In Multi-Million Dollar Methamphetamine Conspiracy

LAREDO, Texas – A total of six Laredoans and three others have been sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy to transport more than 100 kilograms of methamphetamine in 2011, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Silvia Esther Flores, 56, Lilia Esther Garza, 53, Shirley Flores, 32, Gabriel Delafuente, 33, Flavio Lozano-Torres, 42, and Gabriel Gonzalez, 34, all of Laredo, and Roel Lopez-Cisneros, 38, Simon Alvarez-Rebolledo, 36, and Liborio Requena-Morales, 48, all of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.
 
Today, U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña sentenced Silvia Flores to 327 months, while Garza, Shirley Flores and Delafuente were ordered to serve respective sentences of 168, 235 and 168 months in federal prison. Lozano-Torres will serve 294 months in federal prison. Lopez-Cisneros was ordered to serve a sentence of 198 months, while Alvarez-Rebolledo, Gonzalez and Requena-Morales were ordered to serve respective sentences of 121, 120 and 108 months of imprisonment. Lozano-Torres and Shirley Flores will also serve 10-year-terms of supervised release, while the others will serve five-year-terms following completion of their prison sentences. As non-U.S. citizens, Lopez-Cisneros, Alvarez-Rebolledo and Requena-Morales are expected to face deportation proceedings following their terms of federal imprisonment. 
 
Silvia Flores coordinated the transportation of large drug loads from Nuevo Laredo into Laredo and onto Dallas as did Lozano-Torres and Lopez-Cisneros with the assistance of Alvarez-Rebolledo. Silvia Flores then transported drug proceeds back from Dallas into Mexico. She utilized Garza as a courier who brought the drugs from Mexico into the United States. Flores also sent her own daughter, Shirley Flores, along with her friend, Delafuente, to transport the drugs to Dallas.

Requena-Morales admitted he transported one load of approximately 20 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States for the organization, while Gonzalez also attempted to transport a load from Laredo northbound through the IH-35 Checkpoint for the group. Upon detection at the checkpoint, Gonzalez fled in his vehicle until running into a fence and escaping on foot through the brush and left approximately 27 kilograms of the organization’s methamphetamine in the trunk of the vehicle. He was ultimately captured in Laredo during an enforcement action on April 20, 2012.
       
The case is the result of a two-year Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Investigation dubbed Operation Nemesis led by the Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney James Hepburn is prosecuting.