JULY 21, 2023ST. PAUL, MNNARCOTICS
Arellano-Felix Cartel lieutenant pleads guilty to murder conspiracy, leading trafficking enterprise
ST. PAUL, Minn. — U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider for the District of North Dakota announced that Juan Sillas-Rocha, 45, of Tijuana, Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, continuing criminal enterprise, and conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of the continuing criminal enterprise before Chief Judge Peter Welte in Fargo, North Dakota, on July 13. The court will schedule sentencing at a later date.
On March 31, 2011, Sillas-Rocha was indicted by a grand jury in North Dakota in a superseding indictment alleging the three crimes.
Authorities arrested Sillas-Rocha on Nov. 4, 2011, in Tijuana and served him with a provisional arrest warrant issued by a court in Mexico, which started the extradition process. On Sept. 8, 2022, after 11 years of litigation in Mexico, officials extradited Sillas-Rocha to the United States. He made his initial appearance in North Dakota on Sept. 9, 2022. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S Attorney’s Office in North Dakota played a significant role in the extradition.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/arellano-felix-cartel-lieutenant-pleads-guilty-murder-conspiracy-leading-trafficking
