Trio of Cobb County Drug Traffickers Sent to Prison

Three men, two of whom are Mexican nationals, have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in procuring and distributing drugs in Cobb County, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office said.

Gabriel Jimenez-Antunez, a known distributor for a Mexican drug cartel, his brother-in-law Pablo Saucedo Aparicio, and associate Martin Ascencio pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine for their roles in the delivery and distribution of the dangerous drug in Cobb County.

According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, federal agents began tracking Jimenez, who was coordinating the delivery of liquid meth to Cobb County and laundering the drug money, in October of 2012. In the spring of 2013, Jimenez recruited Saucedo and Ascencio to receive drug shipments at homes in Austell and Mableton and to deposit drug money in local banks. The money would then be laundered back to Mexico.

On May 12, 2013, agents broke up a drug delivery at a home in Austell and arrested the three men. Ascencio was allegedly in the process of removing the liquid meth-filled gas tank of a Ford F-350 when agents arrested him, Jimenez, Saucedo, and a fourth man, who drove the truck to the home.

Jimenez and Aparicio were at the Austell residence with thermoses, which was to be used to transfer and store the liquid methamphetamine before it was further distributed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Subsequent search warrants executed on the distributors’ safehouses uncovered 10 lbs. of crystal methamphetamine and other incriminating evidence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Methamphetamine continues to ravage many communities in our nation,” said Harry S. Sommers, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division in a statement. “Because of the positive results yielded in this case, other methamphetamine traffickers in the Atlanta metropolitan and surrounding areas are being put on notice that DEA and its law enforcement partners will not tolerate their continued efforts to manufacture and distribute this insidious drug.”

All three men pleaded guilty to drug-related charges in 2014 and were sentenced this month, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Jimenez, a Mexican national, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and five years on probation; Saucedo, also a Mexican national, received a 16 year, eight month sentence and five years of probation. Ascencio, a Mableton resident, received a five year sentence and a further five years on probation.