A lieutenant in the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva drug cartels has been sentenced to 18 years and 10 months in federal prison for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, federal officials announced. — A lieutenant in the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva drug cartels has been sentenced to 18 years and 10 months in federal prison for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, federal officials announced.
Roberto Lopez, 46, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release following his May 19 guilty plea to conspiracy charges.
Lopez served as the primary lieutenant for cartel leaders Edgar Valdez-Villareal and Carlos Montemayor. In that role, he managed a distribution network that smuggled up to 300 kilograms of cocaine per week into Atlanta, Memphis and other cities, according to information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia.
The distribution network moved 1,500 kilograms of cocaine in Atlanta alone during one six-month period.
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Prosecutors said cash from drug sales was shipped back to Mexico in loads carrying at least $1 million each.
The organization also smuggled weapons and military equipment from the United States into Mexico.
The shipments included more than 1,000 rifles, 100 to 200 converted machine guns, silencers, night vision goggles, ballistic vests and ammunition drums.
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Lopez handled logistics for the ring, including paying truck drivers and stash house operators, as well as repackaging money for transport across the border, according to Justice Department officials.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said court-authorized wiretaps recorded Lopez discussing drug and cash shipments.
After a federal grand jury indicted him on Dec. 15, 2009, Lopez fled to Mexico, where he hid for more than a decade until his arrest in Mexico City on June 27, 2024. Mexico expelled Lopez to the U.S. on Aug. 12, 2025.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg praised law enforcement after the sentencing.
“Before he went underground, Lopez was the head of domestic transportation for ruthless and far-reaching cartels that poured drugs into our community with military-level precision,” Hertzberg said. “Even if it takes decades, my office and our law enforcement partners in the Homeland Security Task Force will never cease our efforts to track and arrest fugitives in their hiding places and hold them accountable for their crimes.”
Other high-level figures in the distribution network were previously convicted and sentenced.
In 2018, a federal judge in Atlanta sentenced Valdez-Villareal to 49 years and one month in prison. Montemayor received a sentence of 34 years and three months in prison in 2019.
Michael J. Connolly, acting special agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, said interagency cooperation was needed to bring down the network.
“Lopez’s sentence is the result of a determined and coordinated effort to dismantle the criminal network he was a part of,” Connolly said. “The success of this investigation demonstrates the strength of our Homeland Security Task Force partnerships and what we can accomplish when agencies work together.”
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