A 45-year-old man from Compton who led a Southern California-based narcotics trafficking operation using commercial flights and the United States Postal Service pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges, authorities announced last week.
Raul Cisneros Jr., according to federal prosecutors, managed a drug trafficking outfit between at least July 2014 to Aug. 2016 that moved cocaine and methamphetamine from California to customers in Alaska.
In Oct. 2015, while Cisneros was in route to pick up money at an accomplice’s home, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop and discovered $5,000 in cash and 22 pounds of cocaine packaged in five separate bundles, which he intended to sell to customers, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Central District of California Office stated.
During a subsequent search of the 45-year-old’s home, investigators found another 66 pounds of cocaine in the kitchen cabinet, along with 167 grams (about 5.89 oz) of crack cocaine and 1 pound of meth.
Four firearms and more than 70 rounds of ammunition were also recovered from the cabinet, as well as hundreds of empty used green cellophane wrappers and a money counter Cisneros used in the course of his distribution operation.
In the trunk of a white Honda Accord parked in the driveway of his residence, detectives recovered an additional 15 pounds of cocaine separated into seven bundles covered in green cellophane inside of a bag and $568,357 in proceeds from the illicit drug dealing operation.
“Cisneros admitted in his plea agreement to intending to distribute the cocaine to others as part of his drug trafficking operation,” authorities said.
The 45-year-old, who has been in custody since Oct. 2020, is the eighth and final conviction that prosecutors have secured in this case.
Cisneros is facing a minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of life. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 8.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with significant assistance from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, investigated this case.