Pubdate: Fri, 21 Apr 2006
Source: Monitor, The (McAllen, TX)
Copyright: 2006 The Monitor
Contact:  http://www.themonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1250
Author: Andres R. Martinez, Monitor Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Note: MAP archives articles exactly as published, except that our 
editors may redact the names and addresses of accused persons who 
have  not been convicted of a crime, if those named are not otherwise 
public figures or officials.

SOURCES SAY ARRESTED OFFICER PART OF MAJOR DRUG OPERATION

EDINBURG -- The local police officer who was arrested earlier this 
week as part of a federal drug sting is the youngest brother in a 
major family drug operation that dates back at least a decade, 
several sources said Thursday.

Edinburg police officer Jesus Lorenzo Meza, 32, is the youngest of five.

The second oldest, [Name redacted], 41, is the head of the "Meza Drug 
Trafficking Organization," an operation the U.S. District Attorney's 
Office for the Southern District of Texas says worked years smuggling 
drugs from Mexico to an area south of Mission, between Granjeno and Penitas.

[Name redacted], a McAllen resident also known as "El Ocho" or 
"Chacho," worked with his brothers to smuggle, transport and store 
large quantities of cocaine and marijuana for other drug trafficking 
organizations, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement 
Thursday. The indictment, which names the five brothers and four 
other men, was sealed.

The three other brothers, all from Mission, are identified as [Name 
redacted], 40; [Name redacted], 45; and [Name redacted], 35.

[Name redacted], of Mexico, was also charged in the indictment as a 
smuggler who coordinates the movement of the drugs across the Rio 
Grande. Also charged were Mission residents [Name redacted], 41; 
[Name redacted], 24; and [Name redacted], 27.

All nine of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to import and 
possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of 
cocaine and more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. These type of 
charges carry penalties as severe as life sentences and millions in 
dollars of fines.

A grand jury returned a sealed indictment against them on Nov. 22. It 
was later unsealed, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, and then 
resealed again.

But Thursday the U.S. Attorney's office offered some details:

The alleged smuggling began in July 1998 and lasted about seven years.

Someone it identifies as only "El Aguila" in the indictment entered 
into a contract with the Meza family to bring cocaine and marijuana 
into the United States. The Meza family would then deliver the drugs 
to other trafficking organizations in the United States.

The remaining eight federal felony counts accuse [Name redacted] and 
unnamed others of possessing with intent to distribute hundreds of 
pounds of marijuana on eight separate occasions between June 2001 and 
November 2003. The largest shipment weighed 1,485 kilograms in October 2003.

The Drug Enforcement Administration led the sting arresting the Meza 
brothers Wednesday. Officials there referred all calls about the 
investigation Thursday to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Jesus Meza was arrested first at 4 a.m. Wednesday while working at 
the Edinburg jail. DEA agents questioned him about the location of 
four of his brothers, the layout of their houses and who would be 
inside, according to local police. Edinburg and Mission police and 
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers helped DEA agents conduct the raids.

Local officers did not know anything about the raids until minutes 
before they were carried out.

Some speculated the charges against Jesus Meza may be part of a DEA 
strategy to persuade him to give information against his brothers.

[Name redacted] and [Name redacted] were processed at Hidalgo County 
jail Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records, and held on 
cocaine charges.

It was unclear where the other seven men were held. They all made 
first appearances Wednesday before a U.S. magistrate in McAllen. 
They'll be arraigned at 9 a.m. Monday.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman