Date: Jan. 31, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Kansas City, MO — Three Mexican nationals were sentenced in federal court this week for their roles in a $4.7 million conspiracy to distribute more than 335 kilograms of methamphetamine and 22 kilograms of heroin.
Jesus Morales-Garcia, also known as “Don Jesus,” was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips on Wednesday, Jan. 29, to 18 years in federal prison without parole. Co-defendant Santiago Raul Mendieta-Sanchez also was sentenced to seven years in federal prison without parole.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, co-defendant Baltazar Flores-Norzagaray was sentenced to 16 years and three months in federal prison without parole.
On Aug. 28, 2024, Morales-Garcia pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, and one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. Mendieta-Sanchez and Flores-Norzagaray also have pleaded guilty to their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy that continued from Feb. 28, 2020, to Sept. 20, 2022. Flores-Norzagaray also pleaded guilty to possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
Morales-Garcia admitted that he was a chief local operative of a drug-trafficking organization that distributed hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs sourced from Mexico into the Kansas City region.
Morales-Garcia also admitted that he was found in the United States after having been deported twice in 2016.
Flores-Norzagaray also admitted that he was in possession of a Hammerli .22-LRcaliber rifle, a Taurus 9mm handgun, and a Taurus .38-caliber revolver when he was arrested on Oct. 7, 2021. Flores-Norzagaray sold hundreds of grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant on at least four separate occasions.
The conspiracy involved the distribution of more than 335.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, with an average street price of $300 per ounce, and more than 22.1 kilograms of heroin, with an average street price of $1,500 per ounce.
On June 8, 2022, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led an operation that involved 140 officers and agents from 14 state, local and federal law enforcement agencies. On the day of the takedown, officers executed 16 search warrants and seized 84.4 kilograms of methamphetamine, 4.5 kilograms of heroin, 10.4 kilograms of fentanyl, 7.6 kilograms of cocaine, 10.5 kilograms of marijuana, 687 Xanax pills, 3.1 kilograms of unknown pills, a quantity of bulk cash, five firearms, a 3D printer with manufactured ghost gun parts, and a liquid methamphetamine conversion lab.
With these sentencings, 24 defendants have now been sentenced in this case in which 44 defendants were indicted.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan A. Baker. It was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jackson County Drug Task Force the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Olmsted County, Minn., Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI, the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.