Fake cocaine in a transparent bag on a board illustrating drug trafficking in Clermont Ferrand France on March 19 2020. (Photo by Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP) (Photo by ROMAIN COSTASECA/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
San Diego, California – Arnoldo Oswaldo Vargas-Samayoa, a Guatemalan national, was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison for leading a major international cocaine trafficking operation that funneled more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo handed down the sentence, calling Vargas-Samayoa a “manager of a very extensive international drug ring” and money laundering network. “This was not a mistake,” Bencivengo said. “This was a choice of lifestyle.”
Vargas-Samayoa pleaded guilty in June 2024 after surrendering to U.S. authorities at Los Angeles International Airport. In January 2020 he was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine.
According to prosecutors, Vargas sourced cocaine from two Guatemalan suppliers and worked with a Mexico-based trafficker to smuggle the drugs into the United States. The cocaine was concealed in vehicles and moved through ports of entry in Southern California and Southern Texas. The trafficker paid $1,000 for every kilogram successfully delivered to Mexico.
Federal investigators intercepted Vargas’ communications and monitored his coordination with the trafficker as drug shipments crossed the border. Once in the U.S., some of the cocaine was transported as far as Chicago for further distribution.
“Cocaine continues to be a dangerous and highly addictive drug with devastating consequences for individuals and communities,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “We remain committed to dismantling the entire supply chain—from cartel leaders to street-level dealers.”
Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, said the sentence demonstrates that international drug traffickers will be held accountable. “Thanks to strong investigative work and international partnerships, we disrupted a key supply line of a major trafficking network,” Gibson said.
The investigation—part of the Department of Justice’s Operation Take Back America—has led to the seizure of over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than $2 million in cash, firearms, and multiple convictions of couriers and money launderers tied to the same network.
Vargas-Samayoa’s criminal involvement mirrors that of his father, Arnoldo Vargas Estrada, the former mayor of Zacapa, Guatemala. Vargas Estrada was one of the first Guatemalan drug traffickers extradited to the U.S. in the early 1990s and was convicted on multiple drug importation charges. After his release in 2017, he returned to Guatemala and served again as mayor until 2024.
The case was prosecuted under the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which focuses on identifying and dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening U.S. communities.
