Drug Dealer Sells Rifles, Tries To Buy Drugs From Agent: Feds

MELROSE PARK, IL — Three suburban men have been charged with taking part in a drug dealing conspiracy after a Melrose Park man sold rifles to an undercover officer and later tried to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from the same federal agent, prosecutors said.

Jose Mendoza, 43, allegedly met with an undercover law enforcement source on Nov. 21 in the parking lot of a fitness center and sold four rifles along with 10 rounds of ammunition. A search of his Melrose Park home later turned up a handgun, two more rifles, five shotguns and assorted ammo, according to a federal complaint.

Mendoza met again with the same undercover officer in the parking lot of a Northlake Home Depot nine days later, according to prosecutors.

In that meeting, Mendoza arrived with a pair of accomplices and tried to exchange $57,000 in cash for two kilograms of cocaine, according to a federal complaint. They had been stashing the cash in a hidden compartment in the trunk of a BMW X6 that was opened by connecting a wire and a nail to the car's battery.

Prosecutors said during the attempted drug deal, Mendoza was carrying a handgun in the pocket of his jacket. He has been charged with possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.

His two alleged accomplices, Miguel Pineda, 48, of River Grove, and Alejandro Sandoval, 25, of Waukegan, were each charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute. They appeared in federal court Monday, according to the feds.

According to the Department of Justice, the FBI was aided by the Chicago field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Schiller Park Police Department and the Elgin Police Department.

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