(NewsNation) — A DEA agent sounded the alarm at a news conference this week, warning that Mexican cartels and their drugs are in Maryland.
The notice from Jarod Forget, the DEA special agent in charge of the Washington division office, came as Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced the indictments of six people on allegations they trafficked large amounts of cocaine from Houston, Texas, to Baltimore County.
“Let me be clear, the Mexican cartels are here and their drugs are here in Maryland. They do not care about the wellbeing of our citizens, and they are flooding and poisoning our neighborhoods with drugs like cocaine, meth, heroine, and especially, fake pills laced with fentanyl,” Forget said at the news conference.
In the latest major bust against Latrava Kinney, Lawrence Nauls and Jayson Rhodes of Houston, the DEA seized 15 kilograms of cocaine, 400 grams of cocaine, 10 guns and more than $493,000.
Investigators believe Kinney, Nauls and Rhodes were serving as couriers for a national drug trafficking organization from as early as July 2022 through Oct. 2022 to transport cocaine from Texas to Maryland, where they say local dealers like Medford Smith, Sherrod Stokes and Maurice Farmer would take the drugs to stash locations to break it down for street distribution.
“As most of you know, cocaine is not manufactured in the United States. It is grown and manufactured in South America and transported by Mexican cartels to all four corners of our country,” Forget said, later adding, “The nexus between cartels and violent crime is unfortunately ever-so prevalent.”
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said they are making Baltimore a priority in their efforts to try to disrupt violent activity.
“Baltimore city is at the intersection at much of the organized crime, drug trafficking, gun trafficking, that we’re seeing,” Brown said.
Is the cartel activity new in Maryland? Not necessarily.
While announcing the 2020 sentencing of Jesus Chaidez-Meza, who authorities identified as a manager of the Sinaloa cartel cell, U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur said drug dealing by the Sinaloa cartel members in Baltimore fueled violence in the city.
He described the Mexican Sinaloa cartel as “one of the most dangerous international drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime syndicates threatening Americans today.”
According to evidence and testimony presented at Chaidez-Meza’s trial, the Sinaloa cartel has been allegedly distributing large quantities of cocaine in the Baltimore area for years now.
“The existence and influence of Mexican Drug Cartels in the city of Baltimore was well established through this investigation,” stated DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville Greene in 2020 about the sentencing. “These relationships only further compound the challenges we already face in this city.”
Investigators say the Sinaloa cartel uses cross-country “cells” to distribute drugs, with truck drivers moving drugs to the East Coast and millions of dollars in drug money to the West Coast. Chaidez-Meza helped manage the Baltimore cell.
In his case, witnesses said that trucks arrived in Baltimore each month from at least Sept. through Dec. 2016 with loads of 60-70 kilos of cocaine to drop off. The driver then transported money to California, where it was unloaded and then sent to Mexico.
In the last decade, the AG’s office says they have witnessed a 500% increase in the amount of cocaine-related deaths in Maryland. The DEA says they are committed to dismantling drug trafficking organizations impacting communities and that each bust is saving lives.