Trucking Company Owner Sentenced to Prison as Part of Federal Investigation That Dismantled Mexico to Chicago Drug Pipeline

CHICAGO - The owner of a Texas trucking company has been sentenced to 25 years in prison as part of a federal investigation that dismantled a Mexico-to-Chicago drug pipeline.

JOSE FARIAS owned a trucking company in McAllen, Texas, and resided in Mexico. In 2015 and 2016, Farias arranged with truck drivers to transport dozens of kilograms of narcotics to the Chicago area hidden in the hollowed-out wheel axles of tractor-trailers. Farias supervised numerous traffickers who unloaded the trucks in the Chicago area and distributed the drugs to sellers. The traffickers then hid narcotics proceeds in the trucks for transport back to Texas and Mexico.

Farias's drug trafficking organization used warehouses in Naperville, Ill. and Sugar Grove, Ill., as well as an abandoned auto lot in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago and an auto repair shop in Channahon, Ill. During the investigation, law enforcement searched these locations and seized approximately 54 kilograms of heroin and nearly 17 kilograms of cocaine, as well as $630,200 in illicit cash proceeds.

In all, the drug trafficking organization distributed approximately 130 kilograms of heroin and approximately 45 kilograms of cocaine in the Chicago area. Seven other defendants were also convicted in federal and state courts as part of the investigation.

A federal jury in Chicago in 2021 convicted Farias, 44, on drug conspiracy and possession charges. U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey on Monday sentenced Farias to 25 years in federal prison.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

"The drugs defendant caused to be distributed were resold to thousands of people, fueling addiction, tearing families apart, and decimating communities - all for the profit of defendant and his co-conspirators," Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard M. Rothblatt and Kristen Totten argued in the government's sentencing memorandum.