22-year sentence in meth conspiracy
Valencia-ramirez ran a processing and distribution cell in Rome.
A 39-year-old Rome man was sentenced to just over two decades in federal prison on Monday for his part in a drug trafficking ring that smuggled liquid meth in from Mexico to distribute across Northwest Georgia.
Juan Cain “Chapa” Valencia-ramirez was sentenced to 22 years and one month in prison by Judge Amy Totenberg on Monday in U.S. District Court. Last year a jury found Valencia-ramirez guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, distribution of methamphetamine, attempted distribution of methamphetamine and conspiracy to launder money charges.
“This defendant was responsible for importing, processing and distributing hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine in the metro-atlanta and Northwest Georgia areas,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan in an announcement released Monday afternoon. “His long history of methamphetamine dealing and eluding arrest has ended thanks to the coordinated efforts of DEA and other federal and local law enforcement partners.”
The case was wide ranging and involved at least three locations in Georgia, including the Lawrenceville area as well as Rome. Valencia-ramirez operated a methamphetamine processing and distribution cell in Rome, Buchanan said.
He would smuggle in liquid methamphetamine in vehicle gas tanks from Mexico and then coordinate the distribution of the drug in North Georgia.
Undercover agents caught up with Valencia-ramirez’s Floyd County operations with an intercepted phone call during an attempted methamphetamine purchase in September 2018.
In October 2018, Drug Enforcement Administration agents, the Dalton Police Department and the Rome-floyd Metro Task Force searched ValenciaRamirez’s stash house located
in a wooded area off Ellis Road in Silver Creek.
“During the search, investigators recovered approximately 176 kilograms of meth, evidence of a methamphetamine processing lab, and several firearms,” a U.S. Attorney’s Office release stated. “The drugs were buried in caches of camouflaged ice chests and plastic bins concealed in the woods around the property.”
After that search, Valencia-ramirez fled to Houston, Texas, where DEA agents found a stash house and seized approximately 17 kilograms of meth.
They finally found him in June 2019, in Smyrna. DEA agents arrested him and searched the residence of two of Valencia-ramirez’s co-defendants, Javier Rivera and Jasmine Garcia, finding more methamphetamine and firearms.
The following people related to the case have pleaded guilty and been sentenced:
Javier Rivera, 26, of Lawrenceville, was sentenced to 17 years and one month of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the offenses of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and conspiracy to launder money on December 11, 2020.
Luis Perez, 28, of Norcross, was sentenced to 11 years and 10 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the offense of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on March 12, 2020.
Ricky Mcpherson, 26, of Rome, was sentenced to five years and five months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the offense of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on October 16, 2019.
Jasmine Garcia, 24, of Lawrenceville, pleaded guilty to the offenses of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to launder money, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense on December 1, 2020, and is awaiting sentencing.
“No matter how sophisticated the techniques get for smuggling drugs, the DEA and its law enforcement partners remain a step ahead of criminals and will deny them the opportunity to destroy communities with their insidious drugs,” said Robert J. Murphy, the special agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. “This investigation was a success as it dismantled a once-thriving meth ring in North Georgia.”