Mexican Nationals implicated in Drug Trafficking

Arrest, sentencing ends a distribution operation targeting KC

Five Mexican nationals were sentenced in federal court for trafficking high quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico. The smuggled drugs were to be distributed in the Kansas City, Mo., area.

Among the five defendants, two Mexican citizens Alejandro Valencia, 32, and Eric Octavio Rangel-Ortega, 33, received the highest sentences. Valencia was sentenced to 24 years and four months in federal prison without parole. Octavio Rangel-Ortega was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison without parole.

Mexican nationals Alfredo Avitia, 34, Juan Rodriguez-Ponce, 62, and his son, Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Maynez, 36, were also sentenced to federal prison.The group was sentenced May 26.

Law enforcement officers testified to having purchased meth from Rangel-Ortega on five separate occasions from October 2012 to January 2013 near Mores Early Childhood Center and Elementary School in Kansas City, Kan. The school was the site of multiple deals totaling to about 256 grams meth, according to undercover officers involved in the investigation.

Police were also able to intercept a $330,000 cash shipment illegally introduced in to the United States from Mexico. The money was seized as part of the judgment against the defendants.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Rhoades will lead any further prosecution of the case.

The case drew on work from both federal authorities, Kansas City Missouri Police Department and the Kansas State Highway Patrol.