KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Oklahoma Metropolis, Oklahoma man has pleaded responsible to his position in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine after legislation enforcement officers seized greater than $1 million price of cocaine from a rental truck that was stopped on at Interstate 70 in Lafayette County. , Mo.
Luis Gerardo Nieto-Acosta, 37, a citizen of Mexico, pleaded responsible earlier than U.S. District Choose Stephen R. Bough on Monday, April 29, to 1 depend of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, one depend of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and one depend of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Nieto-Acosta, the fourth and final defendant to be discovered responsible on this case, entered his plea on the day his trial was scheduled to start. Co-defendants Wilmer Antony Mendoza-Perez, 25, a citizen of Honduras, and Miguel Angel Anguiano-Viera, 27, each of Oklahoma Metropolis, and Jose Eduardo Acosta-Bermejo, 29, a citizen of Mexico, of Bethany, Okla. , additionally pleaded responsible to their roles within the drug trafficking conspiracy.
An officer with the Missouri State Freeway Patrol stopped Mendoza-Perez on Jan. 24, 2023, whereas he was driving a Penske rental truck eastbound on Interstate 70 in Lafayette County. A Toyota Highlander, later decided to be occupied by Nieto-Acosta and Acosta-Bermejo, tried to forestall the officer from rear-ending the Penske truck to provoke a visitors cease. When the Penske truck stopped, the Toyota Highlander continued to journey eastbound on Interstate 70.
In accordance with the rental settlement for the Penske truck, it was rented in Oklahoma Metropolis on January 20, 2023, from a lady who was not current within the truck, and scheduled to be returned to Fullerton, California, on January 26, 2023. January 2023. . Mendoza-Perez couldn’t clarify why he was driving the truck in Missouri.
The officer searched the rear cargo space of the truck and located two bins containing a complete of 34 kilograms of cocaine. The typical avenue value within the Kansas Metropolis metropolitan space for a kilogram of cocaine was about $30,000 on the time, which might make 34 kilograms of cocaine price about $1,020,000.
Mendoza-Perez was arrested. The Toyota Highlander was discovered deserted on the Pilot truck cease just a few miles away. Investigators later searched the Highlander and located two Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handguns, together with 4 magazines and 9mm ammunition.
Investigators reviewed video surveillance on the truck cease, which confirmed a 3rd automobile, a Honda Pilot occupied by Anguiano-Viera and a juvenile feminine, arrived on the truck cease and picked up Nieto-Acosta and Acosta-Bermejo. A short while later, this automobile was situated, and the occupants arrested after they stopped at a comfort retailer in Odessa, Mo.
Underneath federal statutes, Nieto-Acosta faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 15 years in federal jail with out parole, as much as life in federal jail with out parole. The utmost statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is offered right here for informational functions, because the defendant's sentence will probably be decided by the courtroom primarily based on sentencing pointers and different statutory elements. A sentencing listening to will probably be scheduled following the completion of a preliminary investigation by the USA Probation Workplace.
The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case together with the Lafayette County, Mo., Sheriff's Workplace, the Kansas Metropolis Airport Police, and the Missouri State Freeway Patrol.
