South Texan, man from Dallas get prison in smuggling scheme involving US cash, drugs from Mexico

Two Texans will each spend a decade behind bars after being convicted of distributing and conspiring to distribute cocaine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a news release.

Guillermo Fernando Rojo, 39, of Laredo, and Gilbert Zambrano Saldivar, 45, of Dallas, pleaded guilty March 5 and April 4, respectively, the news release said Monday.

U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña sentenced both men to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Two other defendants, Omar Acosta, 41, of Laredo, and Juan Ambrosio Barrientos-Cano, 34, of Austin, previously received the same prison sentences.

Authorities said that from November to December 2021, Acosta and Rojo directed another man to travel from Laredo to Austin to get 5 kilograms, or around 11 pounds, of cocaine and $9,000 in cash from Barrientos-Cano. He was to deliver the drug to a courier in Dallas and the money to Acosta and Rojo. The cocaine had an approximate street value of $81,150, authorities said.

In Dallas, the man delivered bundles of fake cocaine to Saldivar, who also was acting on instructions from Acosta and Rojo, authorities said. The man then reported the bundles had been successfully delivered. Authorities intercepted the delivery and arrested Saldivar.

Days later, Rojo contacted the man to make payment arrangements for picking up the drug from Barrientos-Cano and delivering the cocaine to Saldivar. Authorities then arrested the remaining three coconspirators, who confessed to their roles in the crime.

Investigators found previous incidents in which the coconspirators delivered multikilogram quantities of cocaine from the border in Laredo to major cities in Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi, the news release said.

The defendants also had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from drug proceeds and delivered the money to Acosta and Rojo to fund the organization's U.S. and Mexican operations, officials said.

Investigators also found that truck drivers smuggled bundles of cocaine from Mexico and delivered them to Acosta, Rojo or to couriers whom the men recruited, gave orders to and paid, the news release said.

Officials said Acosta and Rojo transported about $280,000 in proceeds three weeks before they were arrested and occasionally delivered up to $500,000 to Mexico in single smuggling episodes.

The investigation found that Mexican organizers paid Acosta and Rojo 5% of money collections from outside Texas and 2% of proceeds collected within Texas.

At sentencing, Rojo was allowed to stay on bond; Saldivar will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility later.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case with help from Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Laredo and Austin police departments.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Homero Ramirez worked the sentencings.