A federal grand jury has issued an eight-count superseding indictment against a trio of people accused of conspiring to smuggle heroin and fentanyl into the United States through local ports of entries.
The indictment is against Liz Jomayra Diaz-Colon, born in 1999, Elias Herrera, born in 1992, and Jonathan Guemez, who was also born in 1992. All three are U.S. citizens.
Criminal complaints against the suspects indicate they had successfully smuggled the narcotics on multiple occasions to Houston, Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama.
Diaz and Herrera, who were arrested within two days of each other in August, were initially indicted on Sept. 7.
However, on Oct. 10, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers turned Guemez over to Homeland Security Investigations special agents after finding three bricks of heroin in the vehicle he was driving.
The investigation apparently linked Guemez to Diaz and Herrera and on Nov. 2, the susperseding indictment was issued.
He is scheduled for arraignment on Friday while U.S. District Judge Randy Crane is giving Diaz and Herrera the option to waive arraignment and enter a not guilty plea.
Diaz faces two conspiracy to distribute drug charges and two charges related to attempting to import heroin, while Herrera also faces two conspiracy charges and two charges for attempting to smuggle fentanyl into the United States.
Like his co-defendants, Guemez faces two conspiracy charges and two charges for attempting to smuggle heroin.
Diaz was the first suspect taken into custody, which occurred on Aug. 20 after she attempted to enter the United States at the Hidalgo port of entry while driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee with Tenessee registration.
She told CBP officers that she drove to Reynosa to visit her father and was on her way back to Tennessee, according to the complaint.
CBP referred her to secondary inspection because she previously crossed from Mexico into the U.S. in the same vehicle, but with different license plates, which CBP found to be suspicious.
At secondary, a drug-sniffing dog alerted to the odor of narcotics and an X-ray revealed anomalies in the car battery, which is where CBP found a little more than 10 pounds of heroin.
“During the interview, Diaz Colon admitted that this was the fifth time she was tasked to cross narcotics from Mexico in passenger cars and that the four prior had been successful,” the complaint stated.
She told CBP that when she went to Mexico people would take her vehicle and load it with unknown narcotics, and she would deliver the drug-laden vehicle to either Houston or Birmingham, Alabama where other people would receive her and unload the drugs, according to the complaint.
Diaz said she earned more than $20,000 for the previous successful trips and would have been paid upon her arrival in Alabama for the Aug. 20 trip.
Two days later, at the Pharr port of entry, CBP encountered Herrera, who was driving a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which also had displayed Tennessee registration, according to the complaint.
Without Herrera’s knowledge, HSI had placed a targeting record on the vehicle based on an agency investigation on Aug. 20 regarding a heroin seizure, which is the day Diaz was arrested on accusations of trying to smuggle more than 10 pounds of heroin.
Like in Diaz’s case, CBP found anomalies in the vehicle’s battery, where CBP discovered a little more than 10 pounds of fentanyl.
HSI took custody of Herrera and interviewed the man, who said he didn’t know what he was smuggling but he knew drugs were in the Jeep’s battery, according to the complaint.
“Herrera reported that he has been trafficking narcotics for a Mexico-based organization for about eight months and that he has completed several narcotics transportation trips to cities across the US such as Houston, Atlanta, and Birmingham, Alabama,” the complaint stated.
Like Diaz, when he arrived people would meet with him and unload the drugs, according to federal prosecutors.
Herrera said he had been paid $7,000 for his successful previous trips, the complaint further stated.
Then on Oct. 10, CBP encountered Guemez, who was also driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee and seeking entry into the country at the Hidalgo port of entry.
He also had an active targeting record and CBP discovered a little more than 8 pounds of heroin hidden inside a concealed compartment in that vehicle, according to the complaint.
“During the interview, Guemez made multiple false statements and presented incorrect facts already known to investigators. When confronted, Guemez admitted to lying, and changed his story multiple times,” the complaint stated.
Guemez denied knowing that he was transporting heroin, but he did tell investigators he had transported approximately $250,000 during 10 occasions and that the money had ties to a drug-trafficking organization.
Diaz received a $50,000 bond with a $5,000 cash deposit in the case while Guemez and Herrera are being held without bond pending the conclusion of their cases.
