STATESVILLE, N.C. – A federal jury has convicted David Alexander Moralez, Jr., 37, of Fresno, California, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, two counts of distribution of methamphetamine, and money laundering conspiracy.
According to filed court documents and evidence presented at trial, Moralez worked at a shipping company in California as a mail clerk. As trial evidence established, from 2018 to September 2019, Moralez was involved in a conspiracy to traffic narcotics from California to the East Coast.
The evidence at trial demonstrated that Moralez conspired with other drug traffickers to send numerous parcels – each filled with multiple pounds of methamphetamine – via the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx from Fresno, California, to various locations throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Law enforcement in Newton, N.C. and Hickory, N.C., seized two pounds of methamphetamine during controlled buys on December 18 and 19, 2018. In addition to trafficking narcotics, co-conspirators on the East Coast sent drug proceeds back to California via Walmart-to-Walmart transfers and bank deposits.
Moralez was ordered detained pending sentencing, at which time he faces 10 years to life in prison for the drug trafficking conspiracy and each of the distribution charges, and up to 20 years in prison for the money laundering conspiracy charge.
A sentencing date has not been set. Moralez was convicted as part of an ongoing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation codenamed “Dixie Crystal.”
Since 2015, more than 200 individuals have been prosecuted and law enforcement has seized far in excess of 20 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, $1,000,000 in U.S. currency and other assets, and dozens of firearms. OCDETF is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations.
In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray thanked the following agencies for their investigative efforts which led to the prosecution of this case: ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Charlotte; HSI in Greenville and Nashville; the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Charlotte Field Office; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Charlotte; the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation; and numerous local law enforcement agencies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.
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Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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