Two Mission men will now call prison their home after being sentenced for their part in a local cocaine trafficking operation. Eddie Perez, 29, and Juan Alberto Mendez Jr., 29, were handed their fate in federal court following a sting operation in a McAllen parking lot, where they attempted to shuffle 20 kilograms of the illicit substance. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Perez was slapped with a 120-month prison stay, while Mendez received a slightly lighter sentence of 96 months.

On the day of reckoning, U.S. District Chief Judge Randy Crane determined their fate, also imposing mandatory supervised release terms—five years for Perez and three for Mendez, after their decade-long stints behind bars. The court took a hard look at Perez's past, noting his three prior felony convictions. In a wrongdoing dance orchestrated in October 2022, Perez played the courier while Mendez overlooked the drug deal in a family-packed vehicle, the authorities recounted.

It was a Best Buy parking lot that set the stage for the bust. Police kept a close watch as Perez unloaded his trunk of drugs, not knowing that it would lead him and his accomplice Mendez to prison cells. Mendez, who played his part under the gaze his wife and six children, saw his bond extend, allowing him to turn himself in at a later date to a prison yet to be named.

Further poking around by the law enforcement at Mendez's home turned up an additional kilogram of cocaine, cementing their case. While Perez was taken directly to custody, and will begin serving his sentence immediately. The Drug Enforcement Administration took the charge on this investigation, weaving through the details that led to the sentences, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Garcia was the one to bring the prosecutions torch to court.