Indictment Returned Against Drug Ring Operating in Atlanta Area

According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: Atenogenes Alvarado-Delgado was the alleged Mexico-based leader of this drug trafficking organization, and allegedly conspired with his brother, Jose Alvarado-Delgado, and associates, Reberiano Arroyo-Santana and Manuel Arroyo-Delgado, Jr., to import large amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin into the Atlanta area from Mexico. 

The investigation revealed that this organization used passenger buses, owned by Alejandro Carmona, to transport the drugs from Mexico, across the border into the United States, and directly to the Atlanta area. 

After unloading the narcotics-laden buses in local warehouses, Jose Antonio Pineda-Maldanado, Enrique Arroyo, Blanca Hernandez, Rufino Pineda-Perez, and Miguel Salinas would allegedly distribute the drugs in the Atlanta area, as well as in Florida. Jose Cardenas-Garcia allegedly off-loaded drugs and loaded drug proceeds into elaborate concealed compartments in the buses. 

Rubi Torres-Aguilar, Yarely Pineda, and Reynaldo Maldonado-Guipes also allegedly transported drug proceeds on the buses in their suitcases. Alan Arnold Lopez allegedly supervised the border crossings of the buses and also traveled to the Atlanta area aboard at least one drug-filled bus.

Since October 2013, law enforcement has seized approximately 644 pounds of methamphetamine, 37 kilograms of heroin, 27 kilograms of cocaine, and $680,000 in drug proceeds, which include the following seizures:

· 39 pounds of methamphetamine seized on October 8, 2013, from Miguel Salinas after a traffic stop in Doraville;

· 165 pounds of methamphetamine seized on October 11, 2013, pursuant to a search warrant of an apartment on Cleburne Parkway in Hiram;

· 178 pounds of cocaine and heroin seized on October 11, 2013, pursuant to a search warrant of an apartment on Cumberland Pkwy in Cobb County;

· $386,000 in drug proceeds seized on December 7, 2013, in Cuba, Ala. from suitcases transported on a passenger bus. The bus had departed Atlanta, en-route to Mexico;

· 132 pounds of methamphetamine seized on January 3, 2014, from Jose Antonio Pineda-Maldanado after a traffic stop in Austell;

· Eleven pounds of methamphetamine seized on January 3, 2014, from an apartment on Jameson Pass in Alpharetta, which was used by the organization as a methamphetamine laboratory. Law enforcement had discovered the methamphetamine after an explosion at the apartment;

· 26 kilograms of heroin seized off a passenger bus at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas on January 20, 2014.  The bus was destined for the Atlanta area from Mexico; and

· $277,490 in drug proceeds seized on March 19, 2014, from a passenger bus in Douglasville. The drug proceeds were concealed in false compartments within the bus frame.

Each of the following defendants has been arrested or located and will have an initial appearance before a United States Magistrate Judge in Atlanta or in the district in which they were arrested: Atenogenes Alvarado-Delgado, 35, of Powder Springs; Jose Alvarado-Delgado, 35, of Austell; Reberiano Arroyo-Santana, 36, of Atlanta; Jose Antonio Pineda-Maldanado, 22, of Smyrna; Yarely Pineda, 22, of Smyrna; Alejandro Carmona, 63, of Arlington, Texas; Jose Cardenas-Garcia, 48, of Kennesaw; Alan Arnold Lopez, 24, of Mableton; Blanca Hernandez, 41, of Alpharetta; Ranferi Pineda, 24, of Norcross; Rufino Pineda-Perez, 48, of Lawrenceville; and Miguel Salinas, 22, of Lawrenceville.

Law enforcement officers continue to search for Manuel Arroyo-Delgado, Jr., 23, of Sandy Springs; Enrique Arroyo, 38, of Atlanta; Reynaldo Maldonado-Guipes, 56, of Cumming; Rubi Torres-Aguilar, 44, of Austell; and one additional male known only as “Mocha.”

“These defendants are charged with using the metropolitan Atlanta area as their hub for the importation and distribution of millions of dollars’ worth of illegal deadly drugs,” said Yates in a news release. “As a result of the tremendous cooperation between federal agencies and local law enforcement partners, this drug ring is now out of business.”

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges.  The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The investigation and prosecution of this case is a coordinated effort through the David G. Wilhelm OCDETF Strike Force, led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations.  

Valuable assistance was also provided by the Cobb County Police Department, Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, Marietta Police Department, Powder Springs Police Department, Henry County Police Department, Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, DeKalb County Police Department, Newnan Police Department, Conyers Police Department, Gwinnett County Judicial Task Force, United States Customs and Border Protection, and the Georgia State Patrol.