Three arrested in drug scheme

August 21, 2009 9:34 PM

By LAURA B. MARTINEZ, The Brownsville Herald

Three Cameron County residents are accused of participating in a scheme to ship hundreds of pounds of marijuana through the U.S. Postal Service office in Los Indios.

Jose Antonio Sanchez, 29, Eva Zamora, 45, both of San Benito, and Juana Pesina-Sierra, 54, of Los Indios, are named in an 11-count federal indictment handed down earlier this week in Brownsville. The indictment accuses them of possession of marijuana and using the postal facility to distribute nearly 500 pounds of the illegal weed.

As of Friday, Sanchez had not been apprehended, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston said.

Zamora, a post office employee, and Pesina-Sierra are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court Monday. They remained in federal custody pending Monday’s hearing. The women were arrested Tuesday afternoon.

According to the federal indictment, the trio used the Los Indios post office to ship illegal drugs on four separate occasions. The Los Indios post office is less than a mile away from the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios.

The indictment states a shipment went through the post office in December and involved the distribution of 91 pounds of marijuana. The next shipment occurred about five months later in May when 57 pounds of marijuana was distributed, according to the indictment.

They also are accused of distributing 51 pounds of marijuana through the post office on June 6, shipping 31 pounds of marijuana on June 24 and distributing 47 pounds on July 7.

Authorities said the arrests were the result of an eight-month investigation, which began in December of last year.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Service-Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.

Formal Charges:

Count 1: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana