DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Middle District of Louisiana

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Ronald C. Gathe, Jr.
, United States Attorney

Member of Large Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to 120 Months in Federal Prison for Drug Trafficking

United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that Aron Winter Mosquera-Castro, age 28, of Houston, Texas was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison following his convictions for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute heroin, unlawful travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise, and unlawful use of a communications facility. The Court further sentenced him to serve five years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment.

On June 23, 2021, following a three-day trial, a jury found Mosquera-Castro guilty of the above charges for his role in a drug distribution ring obtaining heroin from Houston and operating in East Baton Rouge and Ascension parishes. Mosquera-Castro acted as an interpreter for the source of the heroin, negotiated prices with the locals receiving the heroin, and thereafter transported it from Houston, Texas to Ascension Parish for further distribution. Mosquera-Castro is the eighteenth and final member of the drug trafficking organization to be convicted in this matter.

This operation was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Louisiana State Police, Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office, West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, Gonzales Police Department, and Baton Rouge Police Department. This matter was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Piedrahita, Jennifer Kleinpeter and William Morris.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

New Orleans Field Division