McALLEN — Jurors who were sitting back in their seats during a drug trafficking trial Monday straightened up, leaned forward and craned their necks to get a look at the cardboard boxes opened by gloved agents, who were pulling out some bundles of cocaine here in the courtroom.
FBI Special Agent Nathan Foster, a witness for the government, held two bricks of cocaine in his gloved hands. He held up a bundle wrapped in carbon paper and a Food Saver bag found in a McAllen house in his left hand, and a 2-kilo bundle still dirty from a mechanic shop in his right.
Edgar Yvan Moreno Barragán, 29, is facing an indictment for the drug seizures that resulted in about 120 kilograms of cocaine found Jan. 22, 2018, in McAllen.
Government attorneys called on four witnesses Monday and showed evidence that placed Barragán at both places of the seizure, the mechanic shop on 2307 W. Maple Ave. and a stash house in the 2000 block of North 32nd Street in McAllen.
“By the end, you’ll know that all signs point to him knowing about the cocaine,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jongwoo Daniel Chung told the jury. No one will say that the defendant ever had his hands on cocaine, Chung added, “but he knew about it.”
“You need to concentrate on what the evidence does not show,” Jose Luis Ramos, Barragán’s attorney, cautioned during his opening statements. “Their story will be lacking substance.”
The drugs were part of a seizure from 2018 that was part of a drug trafficking organization based in Rio Grande City and tied to a multi-defendant indictment and arrests, including Barragán.
Seven people formed part of the indictment for their participation in the drug trafficking conspiracy and for multiple drug seizures.
Brothers Daniel, 30, Rene, 25, and Evaristo Sepulveda III, 36, and his wife Julisa Peña, 32, were named defendants along with Garcia brothers, Jose Luis, 44, and Juan Indalecio, 40. Almost a year later, Barragán was also charged and arrested.
All defendants, with the exception of Daniel Sepulveda, pled guilty and took plea deals over the last couple of weeks.
Just minutes before the trial on Monday, Daniel Sepulveda joined the others and entered a guilty plea to the conspiracy charge and agreed to forfeit a residence and about $88,000 of money seized by the government. He previously entered a guilty plea on the possession charge in September 2020.
Daniel Sepulveda was still referenced in the trial when a photo of him, Barragán and another man, Carlos Maciel Garcia, were standing outside of the mechanic shop on Jan. 22, 2018.
A fourth man acting as a lookout was also present but eluded law enforcement.
Agent Foster parked across the street that day and took photos that showed the interaction of the men and the “choreography.”
That day, Daniel Sepulveda arrived at the mechanic shop in a white Ford Ranger and met with Barragán and Maciel. A gray Volkswagen Jetta was parked in one of four bays at the shop with its hood open, though no one was working on it.
The bay door was shut for a while, the agent testified, and a few minutes later, Barragán and Maciel took off in the vehicle and headed to a residence a few blocks away.
After the Jetta drove off, Sepulveda’s pick-up truck pulled into the first bay and all bay doors were shut. It later emerged. Luis Sepulveda, Daniel’s brother, then pulled into the mechanic shop in an identical vehicle, a white Ford Ranger, and repeated the process.
Barragán and Maciel went to the residence and left in two vehicles; Maciel drove a Dodge Ram truck and Barragán took the Jetta.
Traffic stops were conducted by McAllen police officers, and, through the use of a drug-sniffing canine, false compartments were located in both vehicles, though no drugs were found in either.
Law enforcement searched the premises of the shop and residence and found about 100 bundles of drugs stuffed into an L-shaped desk close to the bay where Sepulveda parked his pickup and in the kitchen cabinets of the stash house sparsely furnished.
Ramos cross-examined the FBI agent about the details of that day.
He contested the photos that placed his client, Barragán, at the shop, by saying they don’t show him going inside. Ramos also asked the agent if it was possible the drugs found in the shop were delivered by the trucks driven by the Sepulveda brothers, and Foster said it could be possible.
Ramos also pointed out the drugs were not in plain sight at the shop or home.
The Jetta, driven by Barragán, was registered to a Dallas address, but under questioning, Foster said they did not know who it belonged to. Two phones were also found in the vehicle, but the agent said they did not know with 100% certainty who they belonged to.
Ramos also questioned the McAllen canine handler, Hector F. Alaniz, how they determined drugs were in the Jetta and Dodge Ram truck. Alaniz said the drug-sniffing dog picked up the scent and led him to the secret compartments created in the vehicles.
The Jetta had a slender compartment, about 4 inches deep, built into the trunk blocking access to the backseat through an arm rest that drops down.
A larger compartment was installed under the bed lining of the Dodge truck, about 4 inches deep. Both vehicles did not have any drugs after they were stopped from leaving the residence where the drugs were later found.
Ramos asked Alaniz how long a residual smell of drugs can last on a surface. Factors like weather, travel, quantity and whether the vehicle is in an air-sealed space can affect how long the scent lasts, but Alaniz agreed there’s “no real formula.”
Government witnesses did not finish testifying Monday, and other evidence, including audio and videos prefaced in the opening statements, are expected to be presented when the trial continues Tuesday.
