U.S. authorities on Tuesday took custody of 37 suspects transferred from Mexico, all of whom face a range of federal criminal charges in the United States, according to officials.
The defendants are accused of crimes that include narcoterrorism, providing material support to terrorist organizations, money laundering, human trafficking, and firearms offenses. Their cases will be prosecuted in multiple federal districts across the country.
Among those transferred is Julio César Mancera Dozal, described by authorities as a leader of a Sinaloa Cartel–linked drug trafficking organization based in Tijuana. Prosecutors allege Mancera oversaw the importation and distribution of hundreds of pounds of cocaine from Mexico into the United States, primarily targeting the San Diego area.
According to court filings, the group used vehicles equipped with sophisticated hidden compartments to smuggle drugs across the border. Once in the United States, associates working under Mancera’s direction allegedly retrieved, stored, and transported the narcotics throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, and Riverside County.
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Another defendant, Juan Carlos Alonso Reyes, is identified as the leader of a transnational criminal organization known as The Office, which also operated out of Tijuana. Authorities say the group sold fentanyl and methamphetamine through multiple physical locations.
Prosecutors allege those locations functioned as around-the-clock drug sales points, primarily serving U.S. customers, and were at times discoverable through public mapping applications.
Alonso Reyes, along with Pedro Insunza Noriega and Juan Pablo Bastidas Erenas, is expected to be prosecuted in the Southern District of California. If convicted, the defendants could face maximum sentences of life in prison.
