U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber recently sentenced Luis Mojica Rojas, of Zephyrhills, to 15 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, conspiracy to commit international money laundering, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The court also ordered Mojica Rojas to forfeit $90,000, which are traceable to proceeds of the offense.
According to court records, on May 9, 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at Mojica Rojas’s residence. Inside the master bedroom, agents located an AR-15 assault pistol and a loaded drum magazine for an AR-15. DNA testing of the firearm confirmed that Mojica Rojas possessed it. Cocaine was also found in the master bathroom. Agents seized over 780 grams of suspected fentanyl in powdered form and another 102 grams of counterfeit prescription drugs containing suspected fentanyl from a shed and camper in the backyard.
In total, law enforcement seized over two kilograms of fentanyl associated with the conspiracy. In August 2021, Mojica Rojas met with an undercover law enforcement officer to launder $90,000 in drug proceeds on behalf of a coconspirator.
This Central Florida case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department, and the Plant City Police Department.
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. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Baeza.
