A recently unsealed indictment has revealed allegations that a trucking company was secretly operating a statewide network that has thus far led to the seizure of nearly 13,000 pounds of methamphetamine and dozens of guns.
Charged in the indictment are Adolfo Montiel, Jose Nunez, Jesus Perez-Garcia Jr., Andres Silva Corona Perez, Ruben Saenz, Elvis David Vasquez, Mirella Castillo, Sergio Pena, Kiara Sinaii Valdivia, Jesus Rafael Ulloa Vallejo, Calvin Guntetong, Jacklyn Saenz, Luz Mario Cobrera Salazar, Jose Galan Lopez, Christian Jair Sanchez Rodriguez, Allen Khamtrashyan, and Emily Vela.
But many more names of those indicted have been kept under seal, for now.
Federal prosecutors filed court papers describing the organization as “sophisticated” and in operation “for well over a year.” It gave “the appearance of being a legitimate transportation business,” they wrote.
The group allegedly used hidden compartments in trucks and cars to hide what amounted to thousands of pounds of liquid methamphetamine, which was crystalized and distributed through labs and safe houses sprinkled throughout California. The shipments were often tracked by Mexican suppliers using GPS devices.
Sometimes the methamphetamine was hidden in boxes of vegetables, prosecutors say, though pictures published in court records show liquid methamphetamine in large sealed, unmarked buckets, secret compartments under seats of cars or motorcycles, or contained within the gas tanks. At the search of an industrial methamphetamine processing lab in northern Los Angeles County, authorities say they found 790 pounds of liquid and crystalized methamphetamine.
Another raid of a storage unit yielded six guns — as part of the total 35 that agents say were seized — and 60 pounds of methamphetamine. In addition to the 12,900 pounds of methamphetamine, agents reportedly seized 23 kilograms of fentanyl mixture, 18 kilograms of cocaine, and 10 kilograms of heroin.
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