A suburban man is facing federal drug trafficking charges after DEA agents seized about 99 pounds of cocaine that prosecutors say was stored and distributed from a Chicago warehouse.
According to a federal complaint filed this week, agents investigated a drug trafficking and money laundering operation tied to a produce warehouse in the 2400 block of South Damen Avenue, where law enforcement officers seized “multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine,” mostly stored in white cardboard boxes labeled “Chile Type.”
According to the complaint, the boxes contained one-kilo blocks of cocaine bearing farm equipment logos, including the John Deere brand.
Shortly after midnight on Monday, January 19, officers set up surveillance near the warehouse on Damenlaan. About three hours later, a maroon 2007 GMC Acadia pulled up to a loading dock on the northeast side of the building and Jose Luis Garcia Vazquez exited the SUV and entered the warehouse, the complaint said. Moments later, he allegedly emerged with a heavy box, which he loaded into the SUV before driving away.
Investigators followed the vehicle to a gas station and then to Garcia Vazquez’s residence in Justice, the complaint said. When officers approached Garcia Vazquez at his home, he was carrying a white cardboard box labeled “Chile Type” and a narcotics sniffer dog was “alerted” to the box, the complaint said.
A search of the SUV reportedly found a second box containing brick-shaped containers containing a white powdery substance. Each box contained approximately 50 pounds of large blocks of suspected cocaine, packaged in John Deere packaging, according to the complaint. One kilo is 2.2 pounds.
Garcia Vazquez also consented to a search of his basement home, where officers say they found five additional brick-shaped packages of suspected cocaine hidden between the walls of a utility room. Four of the bricks reportedly had the John Deere logo on them, while a fifth had the Caterpillar logo on them.
In a post-arrest interview in Spanish, Garcia Vazquez reportedly admitted that he had agreed to pick up and deliver cocaine for a person he met through an acquaintance in Mexico. Prosecutors say he told officers he had made similar deliveries about three times before and had paid about $200 per box.
He is charged with possession with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine.
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