Five Charged in Multi-State Methamphetamine and Fentanyl Trafficking and Money Laundering Conspiracy

ALBUQUERQUE – Five defendants face federal charges alleging they used the U.S. mail, interstate travel, and electronic financial transactions to facilitate a large-scale methamphetamine and fentanyl distribution operation spanning New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

According to court documents, Cesar Antonio Huerta, 28, is alleged to have led a Hobbs, New Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that distributed large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl between at least June 2025 and July 2026. Investigators allege that Huerta obtained narcotics from Arizona-based supplier Jesus Landeros, 31, who coordinated shipments with the assistance of Marycruz Perez, 34, and Landero’s mother, Josefina Cabrera-Becerra, 59. Authorities allege that distribution quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl were shipped through the U.S. mail from Arizona and Southern California to Hobbs, New Mexico, where Huerta and his girlfriend, Mariela Belen Lechuga, 24, redistributed the narcotics and collected drug proceeds.

The charging documents allege that Landeros supplied Huerta with methamphetamine and fentanyl through a network that relied on parcels mailed from Arizona and California to addresses associated with Huerta. Investigators identified at least 13 suspicious shipments between June and September 2025, including a parcel intercepted by U.S. Postal Inspectors on Sept. 11, 2025, that contained approximately 2.2 kilograms of pure methamphetamine. Investigators allege Cabrera mailed the package from Inglewood, California, while postal records, surveillance footage, and recorded jail calls linked Huerta, Lechuga, Landeros, and Cabrera to the shipment.

According to the complaint, financial records revealed that Huerta and Lechuga sent approximately $186,851 through Cash App, Zelle, and other electronic payment platforms to Landeros, Perez, and Cabrera between June 2025 and July 2026. Investigators allege the payments, often disguised as expenses for "clothes," "shoes," "rent," "food," and other ordinary items, were used to pay for narcotics shipments and conceal the source and ownership of drug proceeds.

Investigators identified additional seizures tied to the organization, including shipments intercepted in Florida that contained methamphetamine and carfentanil-laced pills, as well as a California seizure in April 2026 in which approximately 5,997 grams of fentanyl and an additional pound of methamphetamine were recovered from Cabrera. 

According to investigators, Huerta and Lechuga later traveled to California to obtain narcotics directly after law enforcement intercepted several mailed shipments. Records, surveillance, and witness statements allegedly showed that the organization adapted its trafficking methods in response to law enforcement scrutiny while continuing to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl and move proceeds through electronic payment services.

The complaint charges Huerta, Lechuga, Landeros, Perez, and Cabrera-Becerra with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted of the current charges, the defendants each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison.

In addition, Huerta is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Investigators allege that during a September 2026 traffic stop, agents recovered a firearm from a vehicle occupied by Huerta and Lechuga. Court records indicate Huerta had a prior felony conviction and was prohibited from possessing firearms. If convicted of the firearm charge, Huerta faces up to 15 years in federal prison, in addition to any sentence imposed for the drug trafficking offenses.

Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison made the announcement today on behalf of the Homeland Security Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Renee Camacho and Judith Crews are prosecuting these cases.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

HSTF Region II CORE 7 is comprised of agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Customs and Border Protection – Office of Field Operations (OFO), U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and Air and Marine (AMO), Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), United States Department of the Interior – Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Joint Task Force North (JTF-N), United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), United States Marshal Service (USMS), Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DSS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS), El Paso Police Department (EPPD), New Mexico State Police (NMSP), West Texas / New Mexico High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), Albuquerque Police Department, New Mexico Sixth Judicial District, Las Cruces/Dona Ana County Metro Narcotics Agency, and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Districts of Western Texas and New Mexico.

An indictment or criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.