Odessa Long-Haul Trucker Pleads Guilty To Cocaine Trafficking Charges
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: November 20, 2012
MIDLAND -- A Former Odessa long-haul trucker has pleaded guilty to federal cocaine trafficking charges.
Rigoberto Marquez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine charges in a Midland federal courtroom on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors say that Marquez -- while working as an Odessa-based long-haul trucker -- transported some cocaine from Tucson, AZ to Columbus, OH on behalf of a Mexican trafficking organization in July 2011.
Marquez, 37, later took the money from the sale of the drugs back to Arizona.
Marquez reportedly recruited another driver for the operation, but the second driver decided to become an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigations instead.
Under the direction of federal agents, the second truck driver recorded several conversations with Marquez over the summer and fall of 2011.
In the recorded conversations, Marquez showed the informant where to hide cocaine and cash in his truck so that authorities would not find it, and boasted of the number of trips he had taken previously to Ohio carrying drugs on behalf of a Mexico-based trafficking organization.
Marquez was arrested after Kentucky State Police pulled over his Freightliner near Elizabethtown, KY on November 18, 2011.
Officers found about $307,000 in cash hidden in interior panels of the big rig.
Marquez reportedly told authorities that he had left Columbus, OH earlier in the day, and he added the the hidden cash was proceeds of drug sales.
Now, Marquez faces 7 to 10 years in federal prison.
Rigoberto Marquez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine charges in a Midland federal courtroom on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors say that Marquez -- while working as an Odessa-based long-haul trucker -- transported some cocaine from Tucson, AZ to Columbus, OH on behalf of a Mexican trafficking organization in July 2011.
Marquez, 37, later took the money from the sale of the drugs back to Arizona.
Marquez reportedly recruited another driver for the operation, but the second driver decided to become an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigations instead.
Under the direction of federal agents, the second truck driver recorded several conversations with Marquez over the summer and fall of 2011.
In the recorded conversations, Marquez showed the informant where to hide cocaine and cash in his truck so that authorities would not find it, and boasted of the number of trips he had taken previously to Ohio carrying drugs on behalf of a Mexico-based trafficking organization.
Marquez was arrested after Kentucky State Police pulled over his Freightliner near Elizabethtown, KY on November 18, 2011.
Officers found about $307,000 in cash hidden in interior panels of the big rig.
Marquez reportedly told authorities that he had left Columbus, OH earlier in the day, and he added the the hidden cash was proceeds of drug sales.
Now, Marquez faces 7 to 10 years in federal prison.
