Homeland Security Task Force Investigation Leads to the Sentencing of Illegal Alien from Mexico Operating as Local Leader of Drug Trafficking Organization with Ties to CJNG Cartel

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Elian Rene Fabian Valladolid, 26, an illegal alien from Mexico and leader of the local cell of a drug trafficking organization (DTO) with ties to the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), was sentenced to 262 months in prison yesterday for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Valladolid will be removed from the United States after he completes his prison sentence.

"This case is one example of many that our emphasis on the cartels and their related drug-trafficking organizations is working," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "We are infiltrating these organizations and toppling them from the top."

"Drug trafficking organizations exploit vulnerabilities in our communities, placing dangerous narcotics on our streets and fueling crime that threatens the safety of families and neighborhoods," said Mark M. Zito, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in North and South Carolina. "This investigation demonstrates the unwavering commitment of the Homeland Security Task Force and our law enforcement partners to identifying and dismantling criminal networks that unlawfully operate within our communities."

At the sentencing hearing, the government argued for and received a sentencing enhancement for Valladolid's leadership role within the drug trafficking organization (DTO).

According to filed documents and court proceedings, federal, state, and local law enforcement began an investigation into the drug smuggling and trafficking operations of a poly-drug DTO based in Mexico with ties to the CJNG cartel. The DTO was organized into local cells that coordinated the sale and distribution of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin. Between 2022 and 2023, Valladolid was the leader of the DTO's local cell, in charge of overseeing drug distribution activities and was involved in recruiting other members to work for the DTO.

During the investigation, law enforcement identified local stash houses used by members of the DTO to store drugs, including a storage unit. Law enforcement obtained and executed a search warrant at one storage unit seizing several bags, luggage, and boxes that contained drugs and a variety of contraband. Investigators also recovered packaging materials consistent with drug distribution, four digital scales, a drug press, and a cutting agent used to "cut" drugs to increase the quantity of the drug product for resale. They also found kilogram quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl.

In total, the drug conspiracy involved 9.6 kilograms of "actual" methamphetamine; 5.9 kilograms of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine; 2.7 kilograms of fentanyl; 1.9 kilograms of heroin; and 648.11 grams of cocaine.

Valladolid will remain in federal custody until he is transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

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.