Mexican National Sentenced to 9 1/2 Years for Meth Trafficking

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Mexican national was sentenced in federal court today for possessing more than 56 pounds of methamphetamine. Pablo DeJesus Peralta Anguis, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to 9 1/2 years in prison without parole for possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and unlawful reentry after removal. On Sept. 3, 2024, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a vehicle on Interstate 29 in Kansas City, Mo. Pedro Alberto Quiroz Ayala, 22, who did not have a valid driver’s license, was driving the vehicle, with a female juvenile in the front passenger seat and Apolinar Gocovachi Pacheco, 26, and Anguis in the back seat. When the trooper searched the vehicle, he found a large duffle bag in the third-row seating area containing approximately 55.6 pounds of methamphetamine. Also found was a grocery bag containing approximately one pound of methamphetamine on the floorboard, and a loaded firearm in the driver’s door pouch. When the four occupants got out of the vehicle for the search, Ayala and Anguis fled on foot. A manhunt ensued and both were apprehended a short time later. Ayala told investigators he, Pacheco, and Anguis drove to Omaha, Neb., to pick up drugs in exchange for approximately $2,000 for his help in transporting the drugs. Pacheco told investigators he arrived in the United States approximately two weeks earlier from Nogales Sonora, Mexico. Pacheco said he paid $6,000 to cross the border illegally. Pacheco said he was asked to travel from Kansas City, Kan., to Omaha to pick up drugs by Anguis. Pacheco said he was promised to receive a significant amount of U.S. currency for assisting with the transportation of the drugs from Omaha to the Kansas City area. Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed Anguis and Pacheco had previously been found illegally in the United States by Border Patrol Agents near Nogalez, Ariz. on Aug. 22, 2024. Anguis and Pacheco were removed from the United States to Mexico that same day. Ayala pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and on May 6, 2026, was sentenced to 11 years in prison without parole. Pacheco pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and unlawful reentry after removal, and on April 2, 2026, was sentenced to eight years in prison without parole. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad K. Kavanaugh. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, , Drug Enforcement Administration, Jackson County Drug Task Force, Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. KC Metro Strike Force This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.