Riverside County brothers sentenced to 24 years in prison for running OC-based heroin operation

Two Riverside County brothers were sentenced Monday to 24 years in federal prison for running an Orange County-based drug trafficking operation that resulted in a fatal overdose of one person, officials said.

From at least 2003 to July 2021, Julio Cesar Martinez, a.k.a. “Primo,” 45, of Riverside; and Victor Martinez, a.k.a. “Hector,” 46, of Hemet; operated a drug trafficking organization that imported heroin from Mexico into the United States and to Orange County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The brothers used couriers who concealed the drugs, sometimes in their body cavities, according to a news release from the office.

Once the heroin arrived in Orange County, Julio Martinez oversaw its distribution to various Orange County call centers that he also supervised, as well as its distribution to customers. Martinez and his accomplices then arranged for drug deliveries using “runners,” who were directed to deliver the heroin and take the customer’s payment, prosecutors said.

Buyers placed orders for the drug using the names of Mexican food as code words, including “taco,” which was a gram, and an “enchilada,” the much-larger ounce of heroin.

The brothers admitted in their plea agreements to distributing at least 29 kilograms of heroin onto the streets of Orange County.

“Federal and local law enforcement agencies working in partnership led to the dismantling of the Martinez brothers’ network and closed off a main pipeline of the heroin supply in Orange County that operated for years and led to deadly consequences,” Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in the release.

The brothers deposited the heroin sales proceeds into bank accounts held by other conspirators to conceal the source of their income, ordering their co-conspirators to evade federal reporting requirements by depositing the money at different banks and by breaking the deposits up into amounts of $10,000 and under, the release said.

The brothers used the proceeds to purchase cars and homes and to fund their lifestyles.

“These two brothers took drug dealing to another level by operating a heroin-delivery service that profited on the addiction and affliction of others,” U.S.   Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “While they and their families lived lavishly, these defendants ignored the destruction they caused in our community.”

During a drug sale in December 2016, a customer who purchased heroin over the telephone from the drug trafficking organization died of acute polydrug intoxication that included heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The brothers, along with 10 other conspirators, were arrested in July 2021 during “Operation Horse Caller,” a five-year investigation targeting the group. At the time, seven more suspects were at large.

The brothers both pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Federal prosecutors have secured 16 convictions in the case.

Source: Orange County Register