LAREDO, Texas – A brazen case of family involvement in a large-scale cocaine trafficking conspiracy has come to an end with the sentencing of Cynthia Elizabeth Arellano, a 34-year-old Laredo resident.
Arellano pleaded guilty on August 13, 2024, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison has now imposed a 45-month-term of imprisonment to be immediately followed by four years of supervised release.
According to the investigation, Arellano used her home, where her husband and three-year-old daughter also resided, as a stash house for approximately 245 kilograms of cocaine and $428,411.00 in drug proceeds. The staggering amount of cocaine and money found at her residence demonstrates that Arellano was a trusted member of the conspiracy, and that kind of trust only comes from a long history of repeated transactions.
Cristian Jareth Flores and Juan Antonio Ochoa-Saucedo, who were involved in the conspiracy, also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 36 and 57 months in prison, respectively. During the undercover operation, Ochoa-Saucedo delivered the drugs at a local retail establishment, and law enforcement discovered two money counters and drug ledgers revealing extensive cocaine trafficking involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds.
The investigation revealed that Ochoa-Saucedo picked up the brick of cocaine from Arellano at her residence and that he had done so on previous occasions. At the time of her plea, Arellano admitted that she committed the crime because she needed money.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation, conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of the Laredo Police Department, led to the discovery of Arellano’s role in the conspiracy. The OCDETF Program uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Ann Cortez is prosecuting the case. Arellano was permitted to remain on bond and surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at a later date.
Related Federal Cases
- Rubio, Rolando – Cocaine Trafficking, Texas 2012 · Texas
- Christopher M. Liscio, Oxycodone and Cocaine Trafficking, Connecticut 2020 · Connecticut
- Samuel Ruben Caraway, Cocaine Trafficking, Illinois 2022 · Oklahoma
- Gilberto Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Cocaine Trafficking, Alabama 2021 · Georgia
- Johnny Triplett, Heroin and Cocaine Trafficking, Louisiana 2022 · Texas
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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