Kansas City Distributor for Mexican Drug Traffickers Sentenced to 6 ½ Years in Federal Prison

KANSAS CITY, KS—Abelino Rivera-Ortiz, 24, Kansas City, Mo., has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for drug trafficking, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today.

In February, Rivera-Ortiz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. In his plea, he admitted he was a member of the Mora organization, a drug trafficking operation based in Mexico. In 2004 and 2005, members of the organization used drivers and tractor trailers to smuggle marijuana from Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, to buyers in Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis and New York. Proceeds from the sale of the marijuana were collected and sent back to the Mora organization in Mexico.

One of the Mora organization’s cell heads in the Kansas City area was co-defendant Germain Hernandez-Chavez. Rivera-Ortiz was one of Hernandez-Chavez’s main customers for marijuana. Rivera would pick up 80 to 100 pounds of marijuana from Hernandez-Chavez twice a month. He would pay $425 a pound for the marijuana, which he received during meetings at his house in Kansas City, Kan,, and at another house near a cemetery in Kansas City, Mo.

Co-defendants in the case are:

• Germain Hernandez-Chavez, who was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison.
• Gaspar Ramos, who is set for sentencing July 21.
• Apolonio Aleman, Jr., who is set for sentencing July 14.
• Thomas Wayne Reed, who was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison.
• Charles Anthony Davenport, who is set for sentencing Aug. 25.
• Adrian Gerardo Ortiz-Munoz, who is set for sentencing July 21.
• Jose Cruz Valdez, II, who is set for sentencing July 14.
• Juan Francisco Flores, who is set for sentencing July 21.

Welch commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris Hunt and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Smith for their work on the case.

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