A North Columbus couple is headed to federal prison for a decade after prosecutors say they tried to strike a major cocaine deal with an undercover agent. Laura Reyes Esquivel and Mario Gamino Sanchez were each sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, plus five years of supervised release, on cocaine and gun charges tied to a June 2025 traffic stop in central Ohio.
According to NBC4 WCMH-TV, the case began when agents with the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force received a tip in June 2025 about a planned cocaine transaction. Reyes Esquivel and Gamino Sanchez arranged to meet with an undercover agent posing as a buyer and agreed to purchase two kilograms of cocaine for $70,000, the station reported.
Traffic Stop on U.S. 40 Uncovers Gun, Cocaine
The Licking County Sheriff's Office stopped the pair's Range Rover on U.S. 40 East as part of the operation, per the same report. A narcotics K9 alerted to an odor of drugs inside the vehicle, and deputies said they found a loaded black handgun in the glovebox along with two bricks of suspected cocaine weighing 2.29 kilograms in the back seat.
Homeland Security records showed that Reyes Esquivel and Gamino Sanchez were citizens of Mexico, and the pair were taken into custody at ICE's Columbus field office following the stop, the outlet noted. NBC4's reporting states the couple resided in the Northgate neighborhood of North Columbus, though the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio states in its own release that both defendants lived in Lewis Center, an unincorporated community in Delaware County north of Columbus.
Guilty Pleas Led to Tuesday's Sentencing
Gamino Sanchez pleaded guilty in December 2025 to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, per NBC4's report. Reyes Esquivel entered the same guilty plea in April 2026, months after her co-defendant.
Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison handed down Reyes Esquivel's sentence Tuesday, per the same federal release. Gamino Sanchez was sentenced the previous week by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila G. Lafferty prosecuted the case, which was announced jointly by U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Detroit.
How Federal Law Adds Up to a Mandatory Decade
The 10-year term wasn't left to a judge's discretion — it's largely dictated by federal statute. Under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B), possessing 500 grams or more of a cocaine mixture with intent to distribute carries a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison, according to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School.
That five-year minimum is then stacked with another mandatory five years under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which requires an additional, consecutive prison term for anyone who possesses a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to an explainer from the Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo. Together, the two mandatory minimums account for the full decade behind bars.
Deportation Proceedings Expected to Follow
Because Reyes Esquivel and Gamino Sanchez are both Mexican nationals convicted of federal drug trafficking and firearm offenses, their convictions qualify as aggravated felonies under Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That classification triggers mandatory federal deportation proceedings once their prison terms are complete, according to MyAttorney USA.
Case Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown
The prosecution fell under Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative from the U.S. Department of Justice. The program pairs Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood resources to target illegal immigration, drug cartels, and transnational criminal organizations.
The undercover sting itself was run by the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force, known as CODE, which is led by the Licking County Sheriff's Office and pools resources from local police departments, county prosecutors and federal partners including ICE Homeland Security Investigations, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office. Statewide, organized crime drug interdiction task forces seized more than $75 million worth of illegal narcotics across Ohio during 2025, according to a separate report from the office.
Court records reviewed by PacerMonitor show the couple's federal case was formally initiated June 4, 2025, when they first appeared before Magistrate Judge Chelsey M. Vascura in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. That initial appearance came weeks after their arrest on U.S. 40, setting the stage for the guilty pleas and sentencing that followed.
