Cartel Recruiter Pleads Guilty to Heroin and Meth Trafficking Conspiracy

NORFOLK, Va. – A North Carolina woman was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for her role in a large heroin and meth trafficking conspiracy that originated in Sinaloa, Mexico.

According to court documents, Delia Marie Salinez, 31, of Greensboro, was a recruiter and drug courier operating out of the conspiracy’s North Carolina distribution point. In March 2019, Salinez and two of her recruits packaged and drove roughly a kilogram of heroin and a kilogram of pure methamphetamine to Virginia Beach, where they thought they were going to sell the drugs. Instead, they were arrested during a SWAT takedown operation and the drugs were seized.

The other two couriers, Maricella Williamson and Kenya Godinez-Camacho, were sentenced to 65 and 60 months in prison, respectively.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Anthony F. Zucaro, Jr., Interim Chief of Virginia Beach Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:19-cr-131.