A Mexican national, Dionicio Galindo-Salinas, 49, has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved over 100 pounds of cocaine from Texas to Ohio. U.S. District Judge John R. Adams handed down the 235-month sentence on July 28, 2025, after Galindo-Salinas pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine.
Court records show that Galindo-Salinas had previously been removed from the United States before returning and supplying large quantities of cocaine to Cleveland-area traffickers. Earl King, a co-conspirator from Cleveland, regularly traveled over 1,600 miles to the US-Mexico border where he purchased bulk amounts of cocaine from Galindo-Salinas. King then shipped the drugs back to Cleveland using a UPS-Staples store in Brownsville, Texas. Investigators found evidence that these trips began around 2020 and that at least 47 kilograms (more than 100 pounds) of cocaine were purchased during this period. The lead federal investigator testified that this amount would have an estimated street value exceeding $2 million in Cleveland during the timeframe of the conspiracy.
“Anyone who thinks they can use Northern Ohio as a marketplace to peddle illegal drugs on behalf of transnational criminal organizations will face consequences,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “We are fully committed to protecting the public by aggressively enforcing federal laws to keep our communities safe.”
“ICE HSI will continue to investigate, disrupt and dismantle cross border drug trafficking organizations that seek to poison our communities,” said ICE HSI Detroit acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey. “I’m proud of the agents, prosecutors and law enforcement partners who relentlessly pursued justice in this case in order to safeguard the communities where they live and work.”
Galindo-Salinas is one of four defendants convicted and sentenced as part of this investigation. Earl King was previously sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty for his involvement; Curtis Anderson received a 25-year sentence following conviction at trial for obtaining and reselling cocaine; Donnell Gochett was sentenced to more than eight years after admitting he provided addresses for shipping parcels containing drugs.
The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with support from the DEA Cleveland Field Office and Cleveland Division of Police.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys James P. Lewis and Yasmine Makridis prosecuted the case for the Northern District of Ohio.
