Two men have been convicted of four drug-related charges after transporting 100 pounds of methamphetamine and heroin in Gwinnett County, the district attorney’s office said.
Daniel Garcia-Martinez and Isidoro Bucio Villasenor have both been convicted of trafficking more than 400 grams of methamphetamine, trafficking more than 28 grams of heroin, conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and conspiracy to traffic heroin.
Garcia-Martinez had been identified by the Drug Enforcement Administraion and the DA’s Drug Task Force as a Gwinnett County leader for a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization in May 2015. A woman who had been involved in Garcia-Martinez’s “drug trafficking activities” agreed to become a confidential informant for the DEA and Drug Task Force, the DA’s office said.
The informant told authorities that Garcia-Martinez had ordered a shipment of drugs to Gwinnett County, and that Villasenor was transporting it from California, the DA’s office said. The drugs were stored in steel compartments welded to tire rims on Villasenor’s car, the informant told agents.
Villasenor’s vehicle was tracked on Interstate 85 and stopped by Georgia State Patrol officers. GSP took the car to a body shop, where agents found more than 100 pounds of meth and heroin after hours of cutting open hidden compartments, the DA’s office said. The drugs were valued at more than $1 million.
At trial, Villasenor testified that he was coerced by a Mexican cartel to deliver the drugs, and that his family had been threatened by an unknown caller. The DA’s office described his testimony as “improbable” because Villasenor never warned his family of the threat.
Villasenor and Garcia-Martinez were convicted on all four charges after the jury deliberated for 45 minutes on Friday night. Their sentencing has not been scheduled, but they face maximum sentences of 60 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
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