Final sentence handed down in cocaine bust in Bass Pro Shop parking lot

Bass Pro Shop is seen in this July 22, 2020, file photo in Harlingen. (Maricela Rodriguez/Valley Morning Star)

The third of three men accused of trying to sell cocaine to an undercover FBI confidential informant earlier this year in the Bass Pro Shop parking lot in Harlingen, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Florentino Trevino appeared Thursday before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., who sentenced him to 60 months in prison to be followed by four years supervised release, federal court documents reflect.

In the sentencing, Rodriguez ordered that Trevino have no contact with his co-conspirators while in federal prison. Trevino pleaded guilty July 5, to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

His co-conspirators, Jonathan Macias and Jesus Zuniga also pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution charges earlier this year. Macias was sentenced to five years in prison with four years of supervised release. Zuniga was sentenced to eight years in federal prison to be followed by four years of supervised release.

The trio was arrested March 2, in the parking lot of the Bass Pro in Harlingen, federal court documents reflect.

According to a March 3, 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, officials said. 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 looked suspicious that they had been parked there for so long,” the federal criminal complaint stated.

Trevino contacted the confidential informant later that day and stated he now had the cocaine and would deliver the drugs the next day, officials said.

Trevino, Macias and Zuniga showed up at the Bass Pro Shop parking lot at around noon on March 2, officials said. As the drugs were being exchanged between the trio and the confidential informant, FBI agents arrested the men, officials said.

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, officials said. The agents said they 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, according to officials. 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 stated.

Zuniga told the agents he knew a package he was told to pick up contained drugs but that it might be marijuana, officials said.