Alexandria, VA – Rafael Antonio Pineda Santos, a 43-year-old Honduran man, has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine in the United States.
According to court documents, Pineda Santos was extradited from Guatemala in May 2022 after being indicted in June 2014 for his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, knowing it would be imported into the United States.
From 2005 until at least June 2014, members of an international drug trafficking organization based in Honduras known as the “Los Valles” Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) conspired to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Central America to the United States.
Pineda Santos was a member of the Valle DTO. He was paid by the leaders of the Valle DTO to provide information about the status of possible law enforcement cooperators and pending law enforcement actions against the Valle DTO.
Pineda Santos maintained an extensive network through which he obtained information that he provided the Valle DTO to further the conspiracy. He contacted leaders of the organization to advise them of planned raids or surveillance being conducted against the Valle DTO. Over the course of the conspiracy, Pineda Santos and members of the Valle DTO distributed at least 50 kilograms of cocaine.
Pineda Santos is scheduled to be sentenced on January 13, 2023 by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rachael Tucker and Katherine Rumbaugh are prosecuting the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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