A manager of a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization was sentenced today to 21 years and 10 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $1,339,500 for his role in an international drug trafficking conspiracy.
According to court documents, beginning around May 2013 and continuing until at least December 2016, Gabriel Cerda-Guillen, 49, of Mexico, served as a manager for a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization. This organization supplied methamphetamine and marijuana to an Omaha, Nebraska-based distribution network. Specifically, from 2013 through 2014, Cerda-Guillen imported marijuana and methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States and distributed these controlled substances to cities across the country, including Omaha and its surrounding areas. During this period, Cerda-Guillen participated in the shipment of an estimated 22 to 44 kilograms of methamphetamine and nearly one ton of marijuana.
Cerda-Guillen imported drugs to Nebraska from Mexico with the expectation that members of local distribution networks would further distribute the drugs and remit the proceeds back to him after receiving payment. He provided drugs on credit or before payment was rendered, received updates on sales status, and obtained drug proceeds through bulk cash transports or established money laundering networks.
Cerda-Guillen pleaded guilty in December 2023 to a two-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, as well as conspiracy to conduct financial transactions affecting interstate and foreign commerce involving proceeds of specified unlawful activities.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri; U.S. Attorney Susan T. Lehr for the District of Nebraska; Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel of the FBI Omaha Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Murdock of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) St. Louis Field Office made the announcement.
This investigation is supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). The FBI Omaha Field Office and IRS-CI St. Louis Field Office investigated the case. Trial Attorneys Robert Sainvil and Douglas Meisel of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Molsen for the District of Nebraska prosecuted the case.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Office of Enforcement Operations provided significant assistance.