{"id":418703,"date":"2026-08-27T23:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418703\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T23:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:54:23","slug":"2-plead-guilty-to-supporting-cjng-cartel-in-el-paso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418703\/","title":{"rendered":"2 plead guilty to supporting CJNG cartel in El Paso"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">EL PASO, Texas (<a data-ylk=\"slk:KTSM;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"http:\/\/ktsm.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 The Drug Enforcement Administration El Paso Division assisted in an investigation regarding the alleged use of stash houses in El Paso connected to firearms and narcotics trafficking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Two Mexican nationals pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including smuggling and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generaci\u00f3n (CJNG), according to a news release from the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Court documents reported that 40-year-old Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez and others planned to provide material support to CJNG by trafficking firearms from the U.S. to Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Navarro-Sanchez admitted that she agreed to bring individuals from Mexico to the U.S illegally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At least one of these individuals managed some of Navarro-Sanchez&#8217;s stash houses in El Paso where Navarro-Sanchez would warehouse firearms and narcotics, the DOJ said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials said Navarro-Sanchez negotiated a deal to purchase 20 AK-47-style weapons and two .50-caliber rifles from undercover agents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Co-conspirator Gustavo Castro-Medina, 29, acknowledged that the firearms were intended to be illegally exported from the U.S. into Mexico to progress drug trafficking crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Castro-Medina acted as a middleman to help transfer $3,000 in U.S. cash as a down payment for firearms and transport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Aug. 21, 2023, two co-conspirators of Navarro-Sanchez and Castro-Medina arrived at a designated meeting point in El Paso to pay the remaining $60,000 in cash and take possession of the firearms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Once the cash was exchanged, the undercover agents turned over possession of the firearms to the pair. The two co-conspirators were then arrested by waiting agents, the DOJ said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Castro-Medina also admitted that he was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol in November 2020, when agents found several tape-wrapped bundles of crystal methamphetamine covered in transmission fluid. The total weight of the methamphetamine was 36.36 kilograms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Navarro-Sanchez, Castro-Medina, and their co-conspirators were\u00a0indicted\u00a0in April 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Navarro-Sanchez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to engage in firearms trafficking, conspiracy to bring aliens, and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Navarro-Sanchez faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Castro-Medina pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to engage in firearms trafficking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Castro-Medina faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This is but two more guilty pleas added in DEA&#8217;s long and sustained efforts against CJNG and its supporters,&#8221; Special Agent in Charge Robert &#8220;Eric&#8221; Casta\u00f1eda of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) El Paso Division said. &#8220;Charges now carry more weight under CJNG&#8217;s designation as a foreign terrorist organization. Anyone seeking to profit from the deaths of Americans, no matter their level of involvement, will be brought to justice.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Sentencing dates for both individuals have not been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, DEA, and Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, assisted by the U.S. Border Patrol, investigated the case, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<a data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ktsm.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 The Drug Enforcement Administration El Paso Division assisted in an investigation regarding the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[70987,145849,21472,145846,138,140,139,18904,79449,57651,32755,22912,145848,145847],"class_list":["post-418703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-cjng","tag-crystal-methamphetamine","tag-drug-enforcement-administration","tag-drug-enforcement-administration-el-paso-division","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-foreign-terrorist-organization","tag-guilty-pleas","tag-maria-del-rosario-navarro-sanchez","tag-material-support","tag-narcotics-trafficking","tag-trafficking-firearms","tag-undercover-agents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}