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Deputies make record $9 million seizure; 5 jailed

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

This is the house, 2907 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico, where deputies found cocaine in an underground storage container.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 23, 2009

Updated: 04/23/2009 04:45 pm

Victor Navarrete-De La Cruz

Juan Luis Gonzalez

Ricardo Manuel Lopez

NICOLAS RIVERA

Irasema Morena-Rojas

TAMPA - Hillsborough County deputies say they have made the largest seizure of cocaine and cash combined in department history.

They arrested five people and seized about $9 million total in cocaine, cash, guns and vehicles. Among the five arrestees are three illegal immigrants from Mexico, including one man who had been deported once before, Sheriff David Gee said.

When asked if he thought drug cartels were involved in the drug smuggling operation, Gee said, "It is obviously a huge seizure, but I won't go beyond that."

Arrested today were Nicolas Sandoval-Rivera, 45, of Lakeland; Juan Luis Gonzalez, 32, of Valrico; Victor Navarrete De La Cruz, 24, of Thonotosassa; Irasema Morena-Rojas, 26, of Tampa; and Ricardo Manuel Lopez, 43, of Plant City. They were charged with trafficking in cocaine and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. Gonzalez also faces charges for violating probation.

De La Cruz appears to have been the group's ringleader, Gee said.

At a press conference today, Gee stood by roughly 179 kilograms of cocaine and about $4 million in cash. Deputies estimate a kilogram is worth about $27,000 in Hillsborough County, so they say about $4.8 million in drugs were seized in the operation.

The smuggling organization was based in Plant City and received three to five cocaine shipments a week, Gee said. There was perhaps 50 kilograms per shipment sent to Hillsborough County.

Deputies say several kilograms of cocaine were hidden in spare tires on car carrier trucks and that the money was sent back to Texas in cars on a car carrier truck.

The investigation took deputies about four months, Gee said.

Investigators learned from a confidential informant that Lopez's brother in Texas was sending Lopez a shipment of cocaine, an arrest report states.

On Tuesday, deputies saw a utility service truck they said was involved in meeting the car-carrier trucks. Deputies then saw someone from the utility truck take four semi-truck tires. The utility truck was then followed by trucks owned by Lopez and De La Cruz. The utility truck was taken to Gonzalez's home, 2907 Bloomingdale Ave., where the tires were delivered.

On Wednesday, investigators watched the Lopez home in Plant City, which they believed stored money from drug sales. They saw De La Cruz looking through binoculars, on the lookout for investigators.

De La Cruz went into the home twice and walked outside, carrying duffel bags into the back of his truck. Deputies later stopped the truck and found two duffel bags, containing about $1.6 million in cash.

Deputies went to Gonzalez's home and got permission to search it. They found 179 kilograms of cocaine; about $350,000; and a 2005 Chrysler valued at $30,000. The drugs were in an underground storage container.

Gonzalez admitted to being part of a smuggling organization during which large shipments of cocaine were shipped from Mexico via Texas, and then stored at his house, according to the arrest report. Gee said today that the drugs initially came from Colombia and other places in South America.

People at Gonzalez's home declined to comment today.

His next-door neighbor Ann Naylon, 59, said, "That's an awful lot of cocaine." At first, she said she was shocked by the amount of cocaine. But minutes later she said, "Nothing really shocks me." She thinks Gonzalez has rented the home for about a year.

Deputies also served a search warrant Wednesday at one of Lopez's homes, 3938 U.S. 60, and found two SKS assault rifles, a handgun, a currency counting machine, two vehicles and about $2 million. Deputies searched another of Lopez's homes, at 4703 Coronet Road in Plant City, and found three SKS assault rifles, a revolver, 170 grams of cocaine, two vehicles and about $35,000 in cash.

The five people were arrested at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday and booked into jail this morning. They remain in the Orient Road Jail today. No bail has been set.

Deputies were assisted by Tampa police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

De La Cruz, Morena-Rojas and Gonzalez, who are from Mexico, are also being held on immigration detainers. Gee said Gonzalez previously had been deported back to Mexico.

"The border is still very porous," Gee said. "Even though ICE is doing [its] job … sometimes they come back."

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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