A 63-year-old Mexican national will serve more than 15 years in federal prison after investigators busted a trafficking ring that transported kilograms of cocaine from the Mexican border into Northeast Ohio neighborhoods.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge John R. Adams sentenced Jaime Ortega-Urquidi to 188 months. The punishment comes after Ortega-Urquidi pleaded guilty in November 2025 to counts of cocaine possession with intent to distribute and illegal reentry by a deported felon.
The inquiry into Ortega-Urquidi’s activities culminated on May 28, 2025, at what began as a routine traffic stop in Lorain. Local police officers stopped a car in which Ortega-Urquidi was a passenger.
When a drug-detection K-9 detected the scent of narcotics, a subsequent search of the vehicle yielded nearly two kilograms of cocaine and more than $29,000 in cash.
Further investigation by federal and local authorities revealed a sophisticated supply system. According to court filings, Ortega-Urquidi was part of a criminal group that transported bulk cocaine across the US-Mexico border into Texas.
From there, the drugs were transferred to Ohio, where Ortega-Urquidi oversaw final distribution to local traffickers across Lorain.
Records also show that Ortega-Urquidi was in the country illegally at the time of the traffic stop. He was deported from the United States in October 2017 after serving a previous term in a Texas federal court for another cocaine-dealing offense.
The FBI’s Cleveland Division, the Lorain and Elyria Police Departments, and the Sandusky Bay Station of the United States Border Patrol all worked together on the case. Assistant United States Attorney James Lewis prosecuted the case as part of the Department of Justice’s “Operation Take Back America,” which targets transnational criminal organizations and cartel activity.
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