Truck driver sentenced to prison for role in Massachusetts, Texas, Mexico drug trafficking conspiracy

BOSTON – A commercial truck driver from Texas was sentenced Friday in federal court in Worcester for transporting large amounts of cocaine and drug proceeds to and from Massachusetts on behalf of a drug trafficking organization based in Mexico and Texas.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 33-year-old Carlos Alfredo Longoria of Laredo, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Mastroianni to 34 months in prison and two years of supervised release. In September 2022, Longoria pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

In November 2021, Longoria was charged in a five-count superseding indictment along with co-defendants Javier Robledo Perez, Vicente Castro III and Francis Jose Perez-Baez. Longoria was a commercial truck driver who transported kilograms of cocaine, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds across state lines on behalf of a drug trafficking organization based in Mexico and Texas. In July 2020, Longoria collected nearly $280,000 in drug proceeds in Massachusetts and transported that money back to Texas to be sent back to the drug suppliers in Mexico. In September and October 2020, Longoria traveled to Massachusetts to deliver and/or pick up vehicles that had hidden compartments installed in them for the drug trafficking organization to use to hide drugs and drug proceeds. In January 2021, Longoria delivered nearly eight kilograms of cocaine to a cooperating witness in Massachusetts. In February 2021, Longoria’s co-conspirators made arrangements for Longoria and his co-defendant Castro to deliver an additional 10 kilograms of cocaine to Massachusetts. On Feb. 8, 2021, agents stopped Longoria and Castro and seized nearly 10 kilograms of cocaine from the truck they were driving.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and John E. Mawn, Interim Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Dallas and Laredo (Texas) Divisions provided assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alathea Porter of Rollins’ Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.