14 people accused of running cocaine and meth operation
An employee of a residential facility for immigrant families and the father of a girl shot dead by federal agents in San Antonio 18 years ago are among 14 alleged members of a drug ring charged in a new federal indictment.
The indictment accuses the defendants of conspiring to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine in the Midwestern and Southern U.S.
During a yearlong investigation culminating in coordinated raids this week, law enforcement officers led by the Drug Enforcement Administration
seized 23 kilograms of cocaine, more than 30 pounds of hydroponic marijuana and 100 kilograms of methamphetamine, along with firearms $359,000 in cash.
Of the 14 people indicted Wednesday, at least 10 have been taken into custody, including Jacqueline Alvarez, 57, of San Antonio, who works for the GEO Group at the Karnes County Family Residential Center.
The GEO Group built the facility and manages it under a contract with Karnes County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Alvarez does not work for GEO’S separate Karnes County Detention Center, where some federal inmates are held before trial, said her lawyer, Joey Contreras.
“She’s a recreation specialist for GEO,” supervising children at play, he said. “She works in the immigration portion of GEO . ... We look forward to taking a good hard look at the government’s evidence.”
Also charged are Francisco Garza, 52; Frank Zepeda, 51; Jose Tabares, 53; Matthew Villa, 51; Michelle Zamarripa, 59; Rodger “Rocky” Hernandez, 43; Jay Haggard, 34; Oscar Heredia, 37; Jason “Big Mac” Gutierrez, 37; and Jacob Sanchez, 21. All are from San Antonio.
Also among the defendants is Joe Angel Villarreal, 55. He is the father of Ashley Villarreal, who at 14 was fatally shot by DEA agents conducting a stakeout in San Antonio in February 2003.
The nighttime stakeout targeted her father. The girl was shot when she drove her father’s car out of their house at San Joaquin and Motes streets.
The DEA contended that the car accelerated toward the agents, who opened fire not knowing that the teenager was behind the wheel. The DEA said her father may have used her as a decoy.
Joe Angel Villarreal later was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison for leading a large cocaine-trafficking group.
Records show he was released in July 2019.
If convicted of the latest conspiracy charges, Villarreal and the others each face 10 years to life in federal prison.
“The arrests ... in San Antonio conclude a comprehensive investigation by DEA, along with our law enforcement partners, into the criminal activities of a drug trafficking organization, who were responsible for transporting and distributing methamphetamine and cocaine into our communities,” said Daniel C. Comeaux, special agent in charge of the DEA office in Houston. and