Date: Aug. 23, 2024

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Tampa, FL - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced Mario Espino, of Holiday, pleaded guilty to five counts of a superseding indictment charging him with kidnapping, possessing methamphetamine and fentanyl with the intent to distribute, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Espino faces minimum mandatory penalties amounting to 15 years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31, 2024.

According to the plea agreement, Espino lured his victim to Florida by claiming to have money to pay a drug debt. Espino did not actually intend to pay a debt. Rather, he intended to kidnap the victim in retaliation for cutting into Espino's drug business. Espino recruited his co-conspirators, Jacob James Guest and Joey Lawrence Eugene Young, to assist with the kidnapping.

DEA agents attempted to thwart the kidnapping by intercepting the victim at Tampa International Airport and warning the victim of Espino's plan. The victim ignored that warning and met Espino at a residence in Holiday. Once there, Espino, Guest, and Young struck the victim with the butt of a firearm and bound the victim's hands and feet with zip ties. Espino and his co-conspirators violently beat the victim, tortured him, and threatened to kill him on multiple occasions. Espino and his co-conspirators called the victim's drug supplier and demanded 10 kilograms of fentanyl as ransom.

While the victim was still being held hostage, one of Espino's methamphetamine suppliers, Jacob Paul Arjona, arrived at the residence in Holiday. Arjona delivered approximately 22 kilograms of methamphetamine to Espino and his co-conspirators and left with $113,100 cash.

Espino, Guest, and Young transported the victim to various locations throughout Central Florida before arriving back at the residence in Holiday. When they returned, agents from the DEA and the Pasco Sheriff's Office intervened and rescued the victim, who was found in the back seat of a car with his hands and feet bound in electrical cord and zip ties. Inside the vehicle, agents located 22 kilograms of methamphetamine, 154 grams of fentanyl, a Micro Draco 7.62 x 39 mm firearm, and a pillowcase that had been placed over the victim's head.

Prior to the kidnapping, Espino had conspired with others to bring substantial quantities of methamphetamine to Central Florida for distribution. On one occasion, Espino and his co-conspirators traveled to Arizona where they purchased 55 kilograms of methamphetamine. The Navajo County (Arizona) Sheriff's Office seized that methamphetamine after stopping the driver Espino had paid to transport the methamphetamine back to Florida.

Another time, Espino and his co-conspirators arranged to have 79 kilograms of methamphetamine transported from Georgia to Central Florida. That shipment was intercepted by deputies from the Turner County Sheriff's Office.

Guest, Young, and Arjona have been charged for their alleged roles in this case. They are pending trial.

This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Drug Enforcement Administration, the Pasco Sheriff's Office, the Navajo County Sheriff's Office (Arizona), and the Turner County Sheriff's Office (Georgia). It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David P. Sullivan and Suzanne C. Nebesky.

This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.

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