BY LAURA B. MARTINEZ and MARK REAGAN | STAFF WRITERS
A member of the Gulf Cartel has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge that he helped smuggle marijuana from Mexico to the United States.
Rene Garcia-Cantu appeared Thursday before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., who sentenced Garcia-Cantu to 76 months in the federal Bureau of Prisons, plus four years of supervised release. Following his release from prison, Garcia-Cantu was ordered not to re-enter the United States illegally, and if he did he must report to the nearest probation office within 72 hours of his return.
Garcia-Cantu appeared before Rodriguez on Aug. 3, 2021, and entered a guilty plea to an indictment that charged him with possession with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana about 235 kilograms (518 pounds) of marijuana in violation of federal law.
According to a fact summary from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Garcia-Cantu was arrested on July 17, 2019, for illegal entry. He had been under investigation by agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration for narcotics smuggling over several years, officials said.
The summary states that Garcia-Cantu agreed to speak to the DEA agents and initially denied being involved in narcotics trafficking. But after a surveillance photo of him was shown from two weeks before his arrest, he admitted to being involved in drug trafficking. Garcia-Cantu admitted to helping smuggle drugs between Carricitos, Texas, and Los Indios, Texas. Carricitos is about seven miles southwest of San Benito, near Highway 281 and FM 2520.
Garcia-Cantu told the agents that he was responsible for smuggling 518 pounds of marijuana on Feb. 10, 2016 that was later seized by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The summary states the Garcia-Cantu admitted to being involved with the Gulf Cartel and helped them smuggle marijuana along the U.S-Mexico border from January 2016 to January 2019.
According to a July 19, 2019, criminal complaint filed against Garcia-Cantu, he’s accused of smuggling nearly 2,000 pounds of marijuana a week into Cameron County for several years.
The charging document states Garcia-Cantu admitted to being in charge of smuggling marijuana in the Los Indios area and made an annual profit of $302,400.
According to the criminal complaint, he held the leadership role in the Gulf Cartel from January 2016 to January 2019.
If what prosecutors say Garcia-Cantu told them is true, he is responsible for coordinating the smuggling of approximately 309,504 pounds of marijuana during a three-year period for a profit of $907,200.
