Western District of Texas | Former Mexican police officer and CJNG cartel member sentenced in El Paso to 25 years in federal prison

EL PASO, Texas – A Mexican national has been sentenced by a federal court to 300 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, 180 months for one count of purchasing firearms and trafficking firearms, and 60 months for one count of conspiracy to traffic large amounts of cash. All sentences will run concurrently.

According to court documents, Rene Hernandez-Cordero, 52, of Ciudad Juarez, was involved in an organization that smuggled firearms into Mexico and methamphetamine into the United States.

In August 2023, Hernandez-Cordero and co-defendant Jesus Gerardo Ramos, 53, of El Paso, met at an El Paso gas station with the goal of obtaining 20 AK-47-style firearms and two Barrett .50-caliber rifles that would be smuggled into Mexico. Evidence presented at trial showed that this particular group smuggled hundreds of firearms from the United States into Mexico from August 2022 to August 2023.

Ramos pleaded guilty in April to one count of arms trafficking. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 26.

Co-defendant Brian Alexis Munoz Castro, 21, of El Paso, also pleaded guilty in April to one count of weapons trafficking plus one count of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23.

A third co-defendant, Maria Del Rosario Navarro Sanchez, aka “Chayo,” aka “Fernanda,” 38, of Mexico, remains at large. She has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, one count of purchasing firearms with straw, and one count of trafficking in weapons.

U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces El Paso/Las Cruces Strike Force Enforcement Group 3 investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Myers and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Holderfield of the Customs and Border Protection Service’s Office of Chief Attorney prosecuted the case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the creation of permanent multi-agency task force teams operating side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from multiple agencies to work together on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle top drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

The OCDETF El Paso/Las Cruces Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from the Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations (CBP), the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO), and the El Paso Police Department (EPPD). The prosecution is led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, in conjunction with an attorney from the Customs and Border Protection Office of Chief Counsel.

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