NORFOLK, Va. – A Mexican man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine.

According to court documents, Ulises Garcia-Razo, 39, flew from Mexico to Norfolk on two occasions in June and July of 2018 to collect over $500,000 in narcotics proceeds and to retrieve multiple kilograms of unsold cocaine that had previously been shipped to Virginia. Garcia-Razo acted on behalf of a large-scale cocaine trafficking organization based in Mexico and California whose members orchestrated the delivery of at least two large shipments of cocaine in the spring and early summer of 2018. The cocaine was shipped cross-country by truck and delivered to a Public Storage business in Virginia Beach disguised as hot-air balloon equipment. In July 2018, Garcia-Razo and other co-defendants were arrested at a local hotel with 8 kilograms of cocaine and a large amount of cash after FBI, DEA, and Norfolk Police set up a successful sting operation.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Goodfellas. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, and Larry D. Boone, Chief of Norfolk Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherrie S. Capotosto prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-156.