A Texas trucking company owner who lived in Mexico and transported drugs to Chicago has been sentenced for his role in a drug-trafficking scheme involving tractor-trailers.
More than three years after a jury found Jose Farias guilty of drug trafficking, an Illinois federal judge sentenced the former trucking company owner to 25 years in prison. Farias’ prison sentence is more than double that of his co-defendant, who pleaded guilty to the same drug-trafficking counts.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois, Farias owned a trucking company in McAllen, Texas, and lived in Mexico. Wheel axles of tractor-trailers were hollowed out to transport dozens of kilograms of drugs to Chicago in at least 2015 and 2016. Cash derived from drug sales was hidden in the trucks and sent back to Texas and Mexico.
Although Farias’ trucking company was in Texas and his residence in Mexico, most of his drug-trafficking ring was set in the Chicago area. Farias’ operations included warehouses in Naperville and Sugar Grove, an abandoned car lot in Chicago’s West Garfield neighborhood and an auto repair shop in Channahon.
About 54 kilograms of heroin and nearly 17 kilograms of cocaine were seized at those locations. Law enforcement also seized more than $630,000 in cash.
Throughout the drug trafficking, about 130 kilograms (287 pounds) of heroin and 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of cocaine were distributed in the Chicago area.
In 2017, Farias and Eduardo Yanez-Barrera were indicted on two counts related to drug trafficking. In March 2023, Yanez-Barrera pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. A few months later, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Yanez-Barrera appealed his sentencing, arguing that in addition to issuing a guilty plea entitling him to a reduced sentence, he also assisted authorities in prosecuting at least one other drug dealer. However, the appellate court pointed out in an order affirming the sentence that Yanez-Barrera fled to Mexico and remained there for five years, leaving him unavailable to testify and obstructing justice.
Farias chose not to enter into a plea agreement and took the case to trial. A jury found him guilty on both counts in June 2021. A series of post-trial motions, continuances and delays pushed sentencing back more than three years. Still not done, Farias is also appealing his sentencing.
“The drugs defendant caused to be distributed were resold to thousands of people, fueling addiction, tearing families apart and decimating communities — all for the profit of defendant and his co-conspirators,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard M. Rothblatt and Kristen Totten state in the government’s sentencing memorandum.
Five others pleaded guilty to similar charges related to the Chicago drug-trafficking operation and received sentences:
- Juan Contreras – 13 years in prison
- Jesus Alberto Martinez-Reyes – nearly 10 years in prison
- David Contreras – eight-and-a-half years in prison
- Edgar Rodriguez Contreras – eight years in prison
- Hedilberto Vega-Rocha – three years in prison LL
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