New charges brought against drug trafficking suspects

INDIANAPOLIS — Two former Columbus residents who authorities say had ties to the Sinaloa cartel face additional criminal charges after rejecting plea deals from federal prosecutors.

An updated indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis charges former Columbus resident Erlin Lucero-Asencio with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and re-entering the United States as a undocumented immigrant who had previously been deported due to a prior conviction.

The possession charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison, while the reentry charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Lucero-Asencio, a Guatemalan national, was deported from the United States from Louisiana in 2020, according to court records.

Lucero-Asencio was previously charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The charge of conspiracy to possess carries a prison term of 10 years to life in prison, while the charge of money laundering carries a prison term of up to up to 20 years old.

The updated indictment also charges former Columbus resident Abel Ayala-García with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. Ayala-García already faced one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Lucero-Asencio made his first appearance Tuesday regarding the new charges, waving his formal indictment. Ayala-García is expected to make her first appearance on Monday.

Both suspects are currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and are being held at the Oldham County Jail in La Grange, Kentucky, according to court records.

The new charges are the latest twist in a criminal case stemming from an investigation launched by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2021. During the investigation, federal agents received authorization to intercept and monitor communications on nine cell phones, including two phones belonging to Lucero-Asencio.

The investigation resulted in the arrests of more than a dozen people – including several former residents of Bartholomew and Jackson counties – who authorities say were part of a drug trafficking ring that used a number couriers and courier companies to transport methamphetamine and other substances from the United States. -Mexico borders several areas of central and southern Indiana, including Bartholomew and Jackson counties.

Drug Enforcement Administration officials told The Republic in 2022 that members of the drug trafficking ring were “some of the largest suppliers” of drugs in Bartholomew and Jackson counties — including methamphetamine and fentanyl — and had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which experts say controls a wholesale distribution network in the United States and elsewhere to put drugs into the hands of local street dealers.

Of the five former local residents arrested and charged for their roles in the alleged plot, only Lucero-Asencio and Ayala-García refused to plead guilty.

Co-defendants Claudio García-Morales of Columbus, Víctor Vázquez-Hernández of Seymour and Allison Perdue of Seymour pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty.

García-Morales was sentenced to 10 years and seven months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, including 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Vázquez-Hernández was sentenced to 10 years and seven months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Perdue is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.

Lucero-Asencio and Ayala-García, for their part, are scheduled to go to trial on August 26 after refusing to accept plea deals.

Ayala-García's court-appointed attorney, Doneaka Rucker-Brooks, told a federal judge this week that she has met with her client and that he “continues to be controversial and is requesting new counsel.”

“Attorney-client communication continues to deteriorate at conferences,” Rucker-Brooks said in a status report. A federal judge had recently ordered him to meet with Ayala-García and report to the court while the judge weighed his request to stop representing him.

Rucker-Brooks had requested the conference after “certain issues emerged that require further discussion and clarification” during a May 20 hearing to determine whether Ayala-García was aware that federal prosecutors had offered her a deal. plea, according to court filings.

During the hearing, Ayala-Garcia “acknowledged receiving and understanding the proposed plea agreement” but “no plea change was made.” The same day as the hearing, Rucker-Brooks filed a motion to stop representing Ayala-Garcia, telling the judge that “there has been a breakdown in attorney-client communication.”

Court filings do not describe the nature of the communication breakdown, but Ayala-García had sent the court a document in his own name earlier this month, although he is represented by an attorney.

Last month, Lucero-Asencio also rejected a plea deal federal prosecutors offered her and “elected to proceed to trial,” according to court filings.

Federal prosecutors had offered Lucero-Asencio a plea deal, according to court records. Last August, Lucero-Asencio filed a motion to plead guilty to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The petition he signed said he understood the crime he would plead guilty to carried a possible sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $10 million.

However, Lucero-Asencio refused to plead guilty to the money laundering charge, and federal prosecutors said they would proceed to trial on that charge.

Lucero-Asencio then reversed course in November, telling his lawyer at the time, Harold Samuel Ansell, that he did not intend to plead guilty to the two counts of the act of accusation and that he wanted to be appointed a new lawyer. Julie Chambers was named his new lawyer on December 7.

Federal prosecutors extended the plea offer “to give the new attorney a chance to work with Mr. Lucero.”

But Lucero-Asencio withdrew his request to plead guilty, with his recently appointed lawyer telling a federal judge that he “did not fully understand his sentencing guidelines or possible sentence adjustments when he signed his initial request to plead guilty.”