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Two Mission men pleaded guilty on Monday for their roles in a drug trafficking conspiracy, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas.
Eddie Perez, 29, and Juan Alberto Mendez Jr., 28, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute approximately 52 pounds of cocaine.
According to the release, Perez was supposed to deliver the narcotics to Mendez on Oct. 4, 2022, as Drug Enforcement Administration special agents conducted surveillance in a Best Buy parking lot in McAllen where they were to meet.
“Agents observed a gray sedan and a white SUV arrive at the public location in tandem and parked in the same area for a brief moment,” the criminal complaint said.
The agents then observed Perez exit the gray sedan and place bags filled with brick shaped packages into the trunk of the white SUV.
Afterward, agents approached the SUV and identified Mendez who was in possession of the 20 packages found inside the bags.
Both men admitted to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute.
Perez spoke to DEA special agents and stated that he was supposed to deliver the package of narcotics to another person as a favor for Mendez.
He added that there was another package of cocaine in the residence that Perez and Mendez reside in of which agents later retrieved.
Mendez told authorities he instructed Perez to deliver the cocaine to the parking lot, adding that the person he was supposed to deliver to is from Mexico and had instructed him to coordinate the delivery.
The men are scheduled to be sentenced in late July.
