Florida native Melchor Munoz, 42, is facing federal charges after the Justice Department filed a denaturalization lawsuit against him for his role in leading a drug organization responsible for distributing massive amounts of cocaine and marijuana.
According to court documents, Munoz, also known as Melchor Munoz-Correa, was convicted in 2012 of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(ii), and (b)(1)(B)(vii). He was sentenced to 188 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release.
As admitted in his criminal proceedings, Munoz distributed to co-conspirators an average of 80 pounds of marijuana on approximately 60 separate occasions between 2008 and 2010, keeping 400 to 500 pounds of marijuana, gallon zip-lock bags of methamphetamine, and multiple blocks of cocaine on hand most of the time.
The civil denaturalization complaint alleges that Munoz concealed and affirmatively misrepresented his criminal conduct throughout his naturalization proceedings, and that his application would have been denied had immigration authorities known about his drug conspiracy.
Munoz is currently serving his sentence at a federal prison in Jesup, Georgia. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, District Court Section (OIL-DCS). The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ari Nazarov of OIL-DCS, with support from ICE’s Orlando Office of the Chief Counsel and ICE-HSI Tallahassee.
Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio said, “It is important for the government to protect the integrity of the naturalization process. In this case, the defendant allegedly concealed his serious criminal activity—large-scale drug trafficking that put the health and safety of our communities at risk. We cannot tolerate, and will zealously pursue, this kind of fraudulent activity.”
Derek Benner, HSI Deputy Executive Associate Director, added, “This criminal led a drug organization responsible for conspiring to distribute massive amounts of cocaine and marijuana, all while he defrauded the government during his naturalization process. Today he is being held accountable for his lies and stands to lose one of the greatest benefits our country offers, citizenship, which he obtained by defrauding immigration authorities.”
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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