A Mexican man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine.
According to court documents, Ulises Garcia-Razo, 39, flew from Mexico to Norfolk on two occasions in June and July of 2018 to collect more than $500,000 in drug proceeds and to retrieve multiple kilograms of unsold cocaine that had previously been shipped to Virginia.
Garcia-Razo acted on behalf of a large-scale cocaine trafficking organization based in Mexico and California whose members orchestrated the delivery of at least two large shipments of cocaine in the spring and early summer of 2018, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The cocaine was shipped cross-country by truck and delivered to a public storage facility in Virginia Beach disguised as hot-air balloon equipment.
In July 2018, Garcia-Razo and other co-defendants were arrested at a local hotel with 8 kilograms of cocaine and a large amount of cash after FBI, DEA, and Norfolk Police set up a successful sting operation, prosecutors said.
