Seventeen-Year Sentenced Handed Down In “Operation Keys to the City” Investigation
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 04, 2009 |
United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Jose Rojas was sentenced today in federal court in San Diego by United States District Court Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz to serve 210 months in custody, based on his conviction for conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(d). The sentence imposed today for Rojas followed his guilty plea earlier this year.
Rojas was prosecuted as part of “Operation Keys to the City,” a year-long investigation conducted by the multi-agency San Diego Violent Crimes Task Force-Gang Group that targeted the criminal activities of the Mexican Mafia (or “La Eme”), Hispanic street gangs with ties to the Mexican Mafia, and a United States-based affiliate of the Arellano Felix Organization (or “AFO”). Court documents indicate Rojas and his associates helped coordinate criminal activities between the La Eme and the AFO syndicate.
United States Attorney Hewitt praised the coordinated effort of the several law enforcement groups led by the Violent Crimes Task Force-Gang Group and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force ("OCDETF") for the coordinated team effort culminating in the sentences in these cases.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter Mazza and John Parmley, who are assigned to handle the prosecution, Rojas is a parolee with a lengthy criminal record dating back to 1988. During the course of the investigation, Rojas distributed over a quarter pound of methamphetamine to a confidential informant.
DEFENDANT: Jose Rojas
Case Number: 08CR4406-BTM
Age: 39
San Diego, California
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy to Conduct Enterprise Affairs Through a Pattern of Racketeering Activity – Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(d)
AGENCIES
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- San Diego Police Department
- San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
- National City Police Department
- San Diego County District Attorney’s Office
- U.S. Bureau of Prisons
- California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- San Diego County Probation Department
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement