Homeland Security Task Force Investigation Leads to Lengthy Prison Sentences for Two Mexican Nationals Convicted of Drug Trafficking

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson announced that a Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) investigation has resulted in lengthy prison sentences for two Mexican nationals for trafficking illicit drugs into Charlotte and elsewhere. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that the defendants were members of a drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Leonardo Sandoval-Ocampo, 26, of Mexico, who is illegally present in the United States, was sentenced to 150 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine, and distribution of methamphetamine. Gerardo Agustin Salinas-Isais, 43, who was a non-citizen legally residing in the United States, was sentenced to 135 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. Both defendants will also be removed from the United States after they complete their respective prison sentences.

"We talk about cartels all the time - this case is an example of how real the threat is," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "This case shows that cartels like Sinaloa are in our communities. The Homeland Security Task Force is dedicated to the complete elimination of cartels like Sinaloa, and this case is an important step in achieving that goal. These defendants will now spend more than a decade in federal prison and then be removed from the country."

According to filed documents and court proceedings, from November 2022 through May 2023, Sandoval-Ocampo and Salinas-Isais were members of Mexico-based drug trafficking organization. During that time, Sandoval-Ocampo was a drug distributor for the organization, responsible for delivering multi-kilogram quantities of illicit drugs, including methamphetamine, for further distribution locally. Over the course of the investigation, Sandoval-Ocampo made or coordinated multiple drug deliveries to investigators working in an undercover capacity. Upon his arrest, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sandoval-Ocampo's residence in Lexington, N.C., where they seized methamphetamine, marijuana, and firearms, including a rifle and two semi-automatic pistols. The residence of an individual Sandoval-Ocampo directed to make deliveries was also searched, resulting in the seizure of 1.8 kilograms of pills pressed with fentanyl. Based on his part in the conspiracy, Sandoval-Ocampo was held accountable for more than four kilograms of methamphetamine.

Salinas-Isais worked for the organization as a local distributor. In April 2023, Salinas-Isais distributed approximately 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine to an undercover agent. In May 2023, law enforcement stopped Salinas-Isais's vehicle while he was traveling from Atlanta into Western North Carolina. Law enforcement searched the vehicle and found a bag containing nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine and 355 grams of cocaine that Salinas-Isais possessed with the intent to distribute to others.

Sandoval-Ocampo and Salinas-Isais will remain in federal custody until they are transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

This was an investigation led by the HSTF. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nick J. Miller of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) is an 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 CORE 23 (Charlotte) 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), United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), United States Marshal Service (USMS), United States Customers and Border Protection (CBP), United States ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the Naval Criminal investigative Service (NCIS), the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG), the North Carolina Insurance Bureau, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the Raleigh Police Department, the Durham County Sheriff's Office, the Cary Police Department, the Nash Count Sheriff's Office, the Wake County Sheriff's Office, the Halifax County Sheriff's office, the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, the Craven County Sheriff's Office, the Sampson County Sheriff's Office, the Brunswick Count Sheriff's Office, the Dare County Sheriff's Office, the Currituck County Sheriff's Office, the Wilmington Police Department, the Nags Head Police Department, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS), the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, the Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Alexander County Sheriff's Office, Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD), the Kannapolis Police Department, the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, the Waxhaw Police Department, the Gaston County Police Department, the Gastonia Police Department, the Huntersville Police Department, the Cornelius Police Department, the Matthews Police Department, the Pineville Police Department, the Stallings Police Department, the Kings Mountain Police Department, the Greensville County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU), the Cherokee County Sheriff's office, the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, the Greenville-Spartanburg (GSP) International Airport Police Department, the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the Anderson City Police Department, the Florence County Sheriff's Office, the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office, the Charleston County Airport Police Department, the Charleston Police Department, the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, the Summerville Police Department, the Greensboro Police Department, the Winston-Salem Police Department, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, the Alamance County Sheriff's office, the Davie County Sheriff's Office, the Eden Police Department, the Piedmont Triad Internal Airport Police Department, the Rowan County Sheriff's Office, the Iredell County Sheriff's Office, and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Districts of North and South Carolina.