“Wrecking Ball” lands LPR in federal prison

GALVESTON, Texas - A 56-year-old legal permanent resident from Mexico has been sentenced in a cocaine and heroin conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

A federal jury convicted Juan Gonzalez-Cardebas following an 11-day trial in August 2022. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and one or more kilograms of heroin as well as possession with intent to distribute 18 kilograms of cocaine.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown has now ordered him to serve a total of 120 months in federal prison. He could also lose his status to reside in the United States.

The investigation focused upon a group of distributors and their associates, primarily citizens of the Dominican Republic, who used common sources of drugs in Mexico to supply their customers in numerous states other than Texas. This group of distributors sold cocaine and heroin throughout the United States but operated out of the Houston area.

Gonzalez worked within the drug trafficking organization by transporting cocaine from the Dallas and Houston areas to other states such as Virginia. He received shipments of cocaine and used his son-in-law’s moving company to deliver the cocaine to drug customers.

The defense attempted to convince the jury that he was an honest hard-working man trying to provide for his family and that his son-in-law set him up. They did not believe those claims and found Gonzalez guilty as charged.  

Gonzalez will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation dubbed “Wrecking Ball” with the assistance of the Houston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Cusick is prosecuting the case.

OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found on the Department of Justice’s OCDETF webpage.