NEBRASKA
A manager of a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization was sentenced Friday to 21 years and 10 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $1.3 million for his role in an international drug trafficking conspiracy, officials stated.
According to court documents, beginning around May 2013 and continuing to at least December 2016, Gabriel Cerda-Guillen, 49, of Mexico, was a manager for a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that served as a source of methamphetamine and marijuana supply for an Omaha, Nebraska-based distribution network.
Specifically, from 2013 through 2014, Cerda-Guillen imported marijuana and methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States. He subsequently distributed those controlled substances to cities across the United States, including Omaha and the surrounding areas.
During and in furtherance of the conspiracy, Cerda-Guillen participated in the shipment of nearly 100 pounds 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 drug proceeds back to him after receiving payment.
Cerda-Guillen provided drugs on credit or before payment was rendered, received reports on the status of sales, and received drug proceeds through bulk cash transports or set up money laundering networks.
In December 2023, Cerda-Guillen pleaded guilty to two counts of an indictment.
The indictment stated that Cerda-Guillen was involved in a plot to distribute and have with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, as well as a plot to do or try to do financial transactions involving proceeds from a certain illegal activity.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) are supporting this investigation.
The FBI Omaha Field Office and IRS 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.