A Mexican national who had previously been deported from the United States has received a lengthy prison sentence for his role in a large-scale cocaine trafficking operation stretching from Texas to Ohio. Dionicio Galindo-Salinas, 49, received a sentence of more than 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. According to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, US District Judge John R. Adams handed down the sentence on Monday.
According to court documents, Galindo-Salinas supplied more than 100 pounds of cocaine to Cleveland drug dealers. Earl King, his major accomplice who received a 15-year term, had made multiple journeys from Cleveland to the US-Mexico border since 2020 to obtain the drugs. The material would then be transported back to Cleveland via a UPS-Staples location in Brownsville, Texas. Throughout the conspiracy, it is estimated that King got at least 47 kilograms of cocaine from Galindo-Salinas, with a street value over $2 million, “according to testimony from the lead federal investigator.”
U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer was unequivocal in his condemnation of the drug trafficking activities, stating, via the US Department of Justice, “Anyone who believes they can use Northern Ohio as a marketplace to peddle illegal drugs on behalf of transnational criminal organizations will face consequences.” He reiterated his office’s commitment to “aggressively enforcing federal laws to keep our communities safe.”
The investigation, which resulted in the conviction and sentencing of four individuals, was spearheaded by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the DEA Cleveland Field Office and the Cleveland Division of Police. Following the successful operation, ICE HSI Detroit Acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey stated, “I’m proud of the agents, prosecutors, and law enforcement partners who relentlessly pursued justice in this case in order to safeguard the communities where they live and work.” According to the United States Department of Justice, a third co-conspirator, Curtis Anderson, who was involved in obtaining and reselling the cocaine, received a 25-year prison sentence after a jury trial, while Donnell Gochett, who facilitated shipping addresses in Cleveland, was sentenced to more than eight years after pleading guilty.
