Calexico tunnel operator sentenced to 10 years
48-year-old Manuel Gallego-Jimenez was sentenced in federal court to 10 years in custody for conspiracy to distribute over 1000 kilograms and more of marijuana on Monday.
Gallego-Jimenez admitted that he distributed marijuana throughout the cross-border tunnel located in Calexico, California and conspired with others.
Gallego-Jimenez oversaw the movement of drugs from the tunnel to vehicles that moved the marijuana to other locations.
Based on court documents, the traffickers scouted properties in the area and selected the Third Street parcel in a residential section of Calexico. The property sale was finalized in April of 2015 for 240,000.
The cross-border tunnel residence was constructed by traffickers under the watchful eyes of law enforcement officers.
Court documents described how HSI special agents used court-authorized wiretaps and other investigative techniques to monitor the construction of the house during October and November of 2015. Once the house was finished, the drug trafficking organization opened the tunnel’s exit point and began smuggling narcotics through the tunnel.
The drug traffickers also used another residence to store the smuggled narcotics.
Two other defendants charged with Gallego-Jimenez have been sentenced.
43-year-old Joel Duarte-Medina was sentenced to 60 months and 74-year-old Eva Medina-De Duarte was sentenced to 595 days in custody.
Two others are awaiting sentencing including 33-year-old Kenneth Wayne Olmos and 52-year-old Bertha Lidia Esquivel.
