Nuestra Familia gang members get more drug charges for alleged prison-based Valley crimes
Nuestra Familia gang members and associates in the central San Joaquin Valley were charged with additional federal drug charges on Thursday – the latest following a multi-agency investigation into prison-based criminal gang activity.
A federal grand jury returned a 13-count superseding indictment against 12 Nuestra Familia gang members and associates, including six from Visalia, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
This indictment adds three additional federal drug charges, including a conspiracy to distribute over 500 grams of cocaine.
The defendants were originally charged in June, along with around 40 others.
Court documents say two high-ranking Nuestra Familia members used contraband cellphones from inside Fresno County’s Pleasant Valley State Prison to arrange the transport of “illicit narcotics” in California and Mexico to a stash house in Kings County. From that house, gang members not in prison coordinated the preparation and delivery of drugs to distributors throughout Kings and Tulare counties.
If convicted, the defendants face a range of maximum sentences, including up to life in prison. Several also face mandatory minimum sentences, ranging from five to 10 years in prison.
The defendants are: Salvador Castro Jr., 49, and Raymond Jesse Marcos Lopez, 32, of Pleasant Valley State Prison; Jesse Juarez, 29, Daniel Juarez, 27, Michael Rocha, 37, Angel Montes, 23, Rafael Lopez, 28, and Raul Lopez Jr., 48, all of Visalia; Manuel Barrera, 24, of Kettleman City; Manuel Garcia, 33, and Joann Bernal, 33, of Armona; and Ramon Amador, 30, of Riverdale.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, “a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone,” and an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation. That program’s aim is to “identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 5:30 PM.
