Arlington Heights Woman Guilty Of Running Drug Ring Out Of Pizzeria

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — An Arlington Heights woman accused of running a massive narcotics ring from a now-closed Buffalo Grove pizza shop she co-owned was convicted on drug charges earlier this week. Maria Garza, 43, could be sentenced to as many as 60 years in prison after she was convicted Tuesday on charges of the manufacture and delivery of cocaine, the manufacture and delivery of heroin, methamphetamine trafficking and trafficking of a controlled substance, according to the Daily Herald. Her next court date is June 19.

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Garza was arrested in December of 2011 following a six-month, joint undercover investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Cook County State's Attorney's Narcotics Prosecution Bureau. She and Carmelo Rios, 43, also of Arlington Heights, co-owned DeLuca's Pizza in the 1000 block of Weiland Road in Buffalo Grove, a business the two operated as a cover for importing various drugs from Mexico and then distributing them througout the Chicago area and even as far as the East Coast.

Surveillance by law enforcement caught the two arranging the sale, delivery and transportation of the drugs during the span of the investigation. At the time of their arrests, DEA agents seized about 16.5 pounds of heroin, 5.1 pounds of pot and a little more than 2 pounds of methamphetamine, which had an estimated street value of $900,000 six years ago.

RELATED: Owners of DeLuca's Pizza In Buffalo Grove Face Drug Charges

Although a co-defendant in Garza's case, Rios worked out a plea deal with prosecutors in February of 2015, the Herald reports. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in exhchange for pleading guilty to the manufacture and delivery of heroin, the report added.

More via the Daily Herald

Maria Garza, 43 (photo via Cook County Sheriff's Office)

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