Homeland Security Task Force Investigation Results in Guatemalan Drug Trafficker Sentenced to Over 24 Years for Multimillion Dollar Drug Conspiracy That Used Corrupt Officials[...]

Tampa, FL - Marlon Alexis Aguilar Reyes (age 44), a criminal alien from Guatemala who was living in Miami under an alias before his 2024 arrest, has been sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell to 24 years and 4 months in federal prison for conspiring to import more than 5 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. He pleaded guilty on July 23, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

According to court documents, Aguilar Reyes had an oversight role within an organization that received vessels of cocaine from South America off the coast of Guatemala, transported the cocaine to the northern border of Guatemala, then smuggled the cocaine into Mexico for ultimate importation into the United States. Members of the organization included a cartel member in Mexico, a corrupt law enforcement officer, and the former mayor of Tecun Uman, Guatemala. Throughout 2018, the investigation revealed that Aguilar Reyes was negotiating multimillion dollar cocaine deals in Mexico; receiving updates on the murder of a rival; and getting notified through a corrupt law enforcement officer about the presence of Guatemalan police vehicles in the vicinity of a drug smuggling operation.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Guatemalan Seccion de Investigaciones Sensitives - Subdireccion General de Analisis de Informacion Antinarcotica. The U.S. Marshals Service provided critical assistance in locating and apprehending Aguilar Reyes. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Baeza.

This case 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 20 (Tampa) comprises agents and officers from multiple law enforcement agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.