A high-ranking Guatemalan drug trafficker got slammed with a nearly 22-year prison sentence today for his commanding role in an expansive maritime cocaine trafficking operation. Josue Adan Lemus-Lara, also known under the alias "Fenix," faced justice in a federal court following his November 2023 conviction on all charges, as reported earlier by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The court heard how Lemus-Lara, alongside his brother Willian Lemus-Lara, aka "Humilde," led a highly sophisticated criminal network responsible for moving massive cocaine shipments from South America up through Guatemala and eventually into the hands of Mexican cartels for U.S. distribution. Incredibly, federal agents used 13 separate wiretaps to peel back layers of the conspiracy. "We either make money or we get thrown in jail or we get killed," Lemus-Lara chillingly admitted to a co-conspirator in one of these tapped conversations, according to trial evidence presented.
During the trial, prosecutors laid out an iron-clad case using wiretap transcripts, photos of branded cocaine batches, and incriminating pictures of a drug lab tucked away in the Ecuadorian jungle. They underscored the operation's scope by highlighting that, in just five days of May 2017, four vessels, each laden with over 750 kilograms of cocaine, set sail for Guatemala from South America. However, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted two of these cargo loads.
Lemus-Lara, 39, found his criminal career abruptly ended when Colombian authorities captured him in February 2019, leading to his extradition to the U.S. on December 2, 2020. Chief U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw described the conspiracy as “hard to put into words how sophisticated and involved it was." U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath expressed satisfaction with the sentence, stating, "This prosecution sends a shot across the bow to maritime traffickers moving narcotics across the Americas and into the United States."
Echoing this sentiment, Chad Plantz, special agent in charge of HSI San Diego, emphasized the commitment of U.S. agencies to hold international drug traffickers accountable. DEA’s Acting Special Agent in Charge Paul Abosamra pledged the DEA’s ongoing pursuit of traffickers "in every corner of the globe." Rear Admiral Andrew Sugimoto, commander of Coast Guard District 11, committed to ongoing efforts to dismantle these operations that undermine community safety and national stability.
Prosecutors charged Lemus-Lara under the Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine on Board a Vessel statute and the Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine Intended for Unlawful Importation into the United States statute, both carrying severe penalties, including life imprisonment and up to a $10 million fine. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Kevin Mokhtari and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison B. Murray.
