Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Foreign National Extradited from Mexico to the United States to Face International Cocaine and Methamphetamine Trafficking Charges

 

A Mexican national made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today to face international cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking and weapons charges.

On July 19, 2021, a grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment against Edgar Fabian Villasenor Garcia, aka Gary and el Monje, 52. At the time of his indictment, Villasenor Garcia was already in Mexican custody, having been arrested by Mexican authorities on April 2, 2020, based on local charges. While in Mexican custody, Villasenor Garcia was served with a separate warrant based on a U.S. extradition request, and he remained detained in Mexico pending his extradition. He was extradited from Mexico to the United States on Sept. 15.

Villasenor Garcia is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, knowing and intending and having reasonable cause to believe that those controlled substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States. He is also charged with knowingly and intentionally using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm in the furtherance of drug trafficking crimes. If convicted, Villasenor Garcia faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a statutory maximum penalty of life in prison.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram made the announcement.

The DEA’s Los Angeles Division investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Kate Naseef of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section is prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Office of Enforcement Operations, and the U.S. Marshals Service provided substantial assistance in the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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