A Mexican citizen who was illegally present in the United States was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.Alejandro Orozco Ramirez, 26, was sentenced on April 13, 2026, by United States District Judge Sam A. Lindsay for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute approximately 14 kilograms of methamphetamine.Court records reveal that between May 9, 2024, and June 18, 2024, as part of the conspiracy, Orozco Ramirez agreed to provide co-defendant Santiago Prado-Gonzalez with approximately 4 kilograms of methamphetamine, which Prado-Gonzalez intended to distribute to another person. However, when Orozco Ramirez was on his way to deliver the methamphetamine to Prado-Gonzalez, he was intercepted by law enforcement agents and arrested. Court records included a photo of the seized methamphetamine: During sentencing, the government noted that Orozco Ramirez was illegally present in the United States and that when officers searched his residence, they found another 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, $5,340 in United States currency, a drug ledger, a drug scale, and four firearms.
One of the firearms was an AK-47 capable of firing rounds continuously with a single press of the trigger, also referred to as “full-auto capable.”Co-defendant Santiago Prado Gonzalez’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 20, 2026.The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation in conjunction with the Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA), the Richardson Police Department, the Hickory Creek Police Department, the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Sioux City, Iowa.Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal prosecuted the case.