DEA Busts Evanston Man and 10 Others for Federal Drug Trafficking

A traffic stop in March led to the arrest of ten men Thursday, including one man from Evanston, in a federal drug trafficking case linked to a Mexican criminal organization.

The eleventh man identified is currently a fugitive, according to a press release from the Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) closed in on the operation in March of this year, after confidential sources pointed them to two men in a tow truck, Mario and Omar Coria, who were transporting a Honda in Chicago.

Chicago Police assisted by stopping the tow truck for a traffic violation, and intercepted phone calls to a third person, Alberto Guadarrama, then agents uncovered 20 kilograms of heroin in 20 packages with police canine dogs. 

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“This operation strikes down a major Mexican criminal organization that routinely distributed high quality heroin throughout the Midwest,” Jack Riley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the DEA was quoted in the release. 

Riley went on to say, “the arrests by DEA and its state and local law enforcement partners effectively dismantled a significant trafficking organization that was responsible for the distribution of multi-kilogram quantities of heroin on the streets of Chicago.”

Suspects and charges:

Charged with conspiracy to distribute multi-kilogram quantities of heroin and cocaine: 

• Mario Coria, 46 of Chicago
• Omar Coria, 35, of Chicago
• Alberto Guadarrama, 29 , of Bartlett

Lorenzo Trujillo, 22, of Evanston, charged with possession with intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine. 

Juan Vigil, 65, of Houston, TX charged with distributing 1.5 kilograms of heroin, supplied by the Mexican-based organization.

Domingo Macadedo, 42, of Chicago charged with possession with intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine.

Miguel Beltran, 36, of Chicago charged with possession with intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine.

Charged with delivery of three kilos of cocaine:

• Victor Mauel Contreras, 43,of Elgin
• Mario Ortiz, 34, of Elgin
• Orlando Penaloza, 28, of Harvard
• Miguel Ortuno-Gomez, 30, of Madison, WI.

Ortuno-Gomez was the only individual not arrested Thursday, and remains a fugitive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

"The public is reminded that complaints contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," the release states. 

Information provided by the Assistant U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.