MISSOURI – A federal jury convicted a California drug kingpin of directing a criminal enterprise by organizing and directing methamphetamine conspiracies in Missouri and Oklahoma.
The kingpin, Luis Alfredo Jacobo, was found guilty of one count of continuing criminal enterprise, three counts of drug conspiracy and 21 counts of unlawful use of a communication facility.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports at least three separate methamphetamine conspiracies. Investigators say he managed, supervised, and organized more than a dozen individuals in California, Northeast Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri in an enterprise that spanned over five years.
“Luis Jacobo sent more than 2,000 pounds of methamphetamine into the Northern District of Oklahoma and Missouri for distribution and claimed to have netted $30 million as a part of his continuing criminal enterprise,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “As a result of their dogged investigative work, federal prosecutors and our law enforcement partners shut down this illicit enterprise, and Jacobo and numerous cohorts have been brought to justice.”
According to the federal indictment, from May 2016 to September 2021, Jacobo received bulk shipments of methamphetamine to his home base in Bakersfield, California. He was responsible for setting prices, determining methods of delivery and payment, and approving any suggestions made about group operations.
Per the indictment, Jacobo directed that the methamphetamine be sent via U.S. mail or driven in vehicles to the groups in Oklahoma and Missouri, sometimes in quantities of up to 200 pounds at a time. After that, coconspirators sometimes mailed as much as $100,000 cash at a time from Oklahoma to California.
“This conviction is a message to drug traffickers who feed those struggling with addiction and line the pockets of criminal organizations,” said Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division, who oversees operations in Oklahoma. “Your days spent peddling drugs and spending dirty money will lead to nights spent in jail staring at the ceiling while you are held responsible for your actions. DEA Tulsa is committed to keeping methamphetamine off our Oklahoma streets.”
Upon Jacobo’s arrest last year, nine others faced federal charges in the investigation, including six people from southwest Missouri, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.