As soon as U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Sarita Checkpoint referred 48-year-old Enrique Cardenas Jr.’s tractor-trailer to an inspection area, Cardenas knew he had been caught with possession of cocaine, according to a federal criminal complaint.
The Brownsville man’s facial expressions and demeanor changed when agents asked him if they could inspect the tractor-trailer rig, he was driving, the federal criminal complaint reads. During the inspection, authorities found 10 bundles wrapped in black electrical tape that tested positive for cocaine, officials said. In all, agents seized 20 bundles that contained 48.50 pounds of cocaine.
Cardenas appeared Thursday before U.S. District Judge Fernandez Rodriguez Jr. for re-arraignment where he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 6. He remains out on a $75,000 bond.
According to the Oct. 18, 2021, federal criminal complaint, agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration had Cardenas under surveillance for narcotics transporting. They were able to get a court order that allowed them to trace Cardenas’ phone, and the phone and the tractor-trailer rig he was driving were discovered that the Love’s Truck stop in Brownsville.
The tractor-trailer rig was seen heading toward I69 and the DEA agents contacted Border Patrol agents stationed at the Sarita checkpoint and alerted them to be on the lookout for the vehicle being driven by Cardenas, which was suspected of narcotics smuggling, the federal criminal complaint states.
When the tractor-trailer rig arrived at the checkpoint, it was referred to an inspection area where the agents found the bundles of cocaine in two paper shopping bags that were in the closet behind the sleeper area of the tractor-trailer rig, the federal criminal complaint states. DEA agents were notified that cocaine had been found.
When being questioned by DEA agents, Cardenas broke down stating he had “let his family down,” and that he had “failed his family,” the federal criminal complaint reads. “Cardenas further stated that he knew why agents were interviewing him and never denied knowledge of any narcotics within the tractor trailer.”
Cardenas was arrested and on Nov. 9, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted him on the cocaine distribution charge.
