Three men remain in federal custody including one believe to be the spouse of a female law enforcement officer, after they were accused of trying to sell cocaine to an undercover FBI confidential informant.
Florentino Trevino, 21, Jonathan Macias, 26, and Jesus Zuniga, 23, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Trevino and Macias each face an additional charge of use of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crime.
The trio was arrested Wednesday in the parking lot of the Bass Pro in Harlingen, federal court documents reflect. All three are being held without bond. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 21 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Trevino, Macias and Zuniga attempted on two separate occasions to sell the undercover informant cocaine.
Trevino had been under investigation because he was a “cocaine trafficker who operated in Cameron and Hidalgo counties,” the federal criminal complaint stated.
The trio first tried to sell the cocaine to the undercover informant on March 1 at a Family Dollar Store in Rancho Viejo. After waiting for several hours, the sell was canceled because “Trevino could not get anyone to deliver the drugs,” the federal criminal complaint stated.
In addition, the “subject said there were too many marked police units driving by and it look suspicious that they had been parked there for so long,” the federal criminal complaint states.
Trevino contacted the confidential informant later that day and stated he now had the cocaine and would deliver the drugs the next day.
Trevino, Macias and Zuniga showed up at the Bass Pro Shop parking lot at around noon on March 2. As the drugs were being exchanged between the trio and the confidential informant, FBI agents arrested the men.
According to the federal criminal complaint, Trevino had a .45 caliber handgun in his front waistband. An AK-47 rifle was found on the driver’s side floorboard of a red Ford truck driven by Macias. The agents also observed what was believed to be a kilo of cocaine in the vehicle driven by Zuniga.
The trio was transported to the Brownsville FBI office and when Macias was asked about the truck which was registered to a woman, he said she was his wife. Macias also told the agents that his wife was “a law enforcement officer. Macias stated his wife was going to leave him once she found out what he was doing,” the federal complaint states.
Zuniga told the agents he knew a package he was told to pick up contained drugs but that it might be marijuana.
