Alejandro Lagunas Penaloza, also known as Jose Alfredo Castro Reyes, has been sentenced to 60 months in prison. The 47-year-old from Michoacan, Mexico, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady after pleading guilty to distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine. This announcement was made by United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
In addition to the prison term, Lagunas Penaloza will face four years of supervised release following his sentence. Court documents reveal that he sold a kilogram of cocaine to an undercover law enforcement agent on March 7, 2023. It was noted that Lagunas Penaloza was illegally present in the United States at the time.
The investigation into this case involved multiple agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Allen County Drug Task Force, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Fort Wayne Safe Streets Gang Task Force. The task force comprises members from the FBI, Indiana State Police, Allen County Police Department, and Fort Wayne Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony W. Geller prosecuted the case.
This investigation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation which aims to identify and dismantle high-level drug traffickers and criminal organizations through a coordinated multi-agency approach.