Local and federal authorities swooped in on 14 different locations in Alabama last Tuesday.
They were looking for Cesar Campos-Reyes, 52, of Lee County, related to four counts of bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud and money laundering related to four PPP loans with an approximate value of $225,000 following a multi-year long investigation. It follows an April federal indictment of Campos-Reyes.
Following a Friday hearing in federal court, Campos-Reyes, a naturalized citizen, was released by a federal magistrate judge until a November trial. Last week, he entered pleas of not guilty in front of a federal magistrate judge.
Just three days earlier, agents from the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE searched multiple properties including eight restaurants. Two were El Patron Mexican Grille in Wetumpka and El Patron Mexican Grille in Holtville. The searches were conducted in Lee, Macon, Elmore, Autauga, Crenshaw and Baldwin counties. Restaurants searched included two in Opelika, one in Auburn, one in Prattville, one in Luverne and one in Robertsdale.
“They are related to a long-term investigation which has accompanied the search warrants, a federal indictment against Cesar Campos-Reyes,” acting United States attorney Kevin P. Davidson said Tuesday at a press conference.
Authorities swarmed the 14 locations before the restaurants opened including Wetumpka where the Wetumpka Police Department aided in traffic control and establishing perimeter. It was a similar action in Holtville with the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. Both locations were connected to Campos-Reyes according to federal authorities.
Witnesses were surprised to see the large number of law enforcement officers present at the locations. Across the state the searches located trafficking amounts of methamphetamines, powder cocaine and crack cocaine along with assorted pills, more than $100,000 in cash and more than 20 guns.
Campos-Reyes surrendered to authorities hours after the initial operation in Lee County.
In a social media post, El Patron in Holtville said Campos-Reyes was once a 50/50 partner in the restaurant but recently he was not. The restaurant was owned and operated locally.
“They searched every restaurant who he has had business with, not just us,” the post said. “As far as drugs and weapons go, our location is not involved.”
The post noted the Holtville location hoped to be open again soon.
Three Mexican nationals were taken into federal custody Tuesday.
Luis Campos-Reyes and Fernandez-Lopez were each charged with harboring and unlawfully employing aliens, an offense punishable by up to one year in prison. Marco Antonio Guzman was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The statewide searches found more than 40 illegal aliens who were detained by ICE but not connected to the drugs or weapons. They are currently held by the organization’s New Orleans Field Office.
“Some are in facilities here in the state of Alabama,” ICE New Orleans acting field office director Brian Acuna said. “They're going to go through the due process that's owed to them and their individual circumstances swiftly and they'll be removed from the United States.”
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge Steven Schrank covering Alabama and Georgia said Tuesday’s multiagency operation across Alabama is the result of years-long, coordinated investigative work aimed at addressing serious threats to public safety and the rule of law. The operation was conducted under the umbrella of the Gulf of America Homeland Security Task Force. It was part of an ongoing criminal investigation into a network of suspected drug trafficking, human smuggling, document fraud and other financial crimes.
“This is allegedly a transnational organized entity that has committed this activity,” Schrank said. “This operation was not about any one offense. It was about dismantling a criminal ecosystem, one that profits from the exploitation of people and the circumvention of our nation's laws.”
Schrank said in many of the locations they investigated.
“We uncovered not only unlawful, unauthorized employment of aliens, but evidence that may point to a broader pattern of criminal conduct that includes narcotics distribution,” Schrank said. He said documents were found that may have been used as part of illegal employment and indicators of potential human smuggling.
“These types of criminal activities are deeply interconnected,” Schrank said. “Criminal organizations don't just traffic drugs or people. They engage in fraud, money laundering and labor exploitation. Those crimes don't just hurt the individuals involved, but they harm communities.”
Everyone said additional charges would be announced in the future.
If convicted on all charges, Campos-Reyes faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison along with significant fines. There is no parole in the federal system.
