Mexican cartel-linked group smuggled liquid meth into US inside candles: DOJ

Federal prosecutors announced that Jose Luis Sanchez-Valencia, 58, appeared in court on Thursday after being transferred from Mexico to the United States last month. The Mexican national faces a four-count federal indictment returned in 2022, charging him with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and three counts of illegal use of a communication facility. Sanchez-Valencia pleaded not guilty, and US District Judge John C. Coughenour set the trial for April 20, 2026.

Federal officials allege Sanchez-Valencia led a drug trafficking organization operating in the South Puget Sound region and maintained ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent criminal groups. “This defendant was the cartel-connected leader of a violent drug trafficking ring operating in the South Puget Sound region,” said First Assistant US Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Prosecutors say Sanchez-Valencia’s involvement is backed in part by telephone communications that allegedly link him to the conspiracy and to a local figure who was later shot outside a Kitsap County stash house.

According to investigators, the organization received a shipment in November 2019 containing liquid methamphetamine concealed inside candles. Authorities say a local leader of the group, Jose Elias Barbosa, helped other members extract the liquid methamphetamine and convert it into crystal meth at a location in Port Orchard, Washington. While law enforcement was surveilling the operation, Barbosa was shot behind the house, prosecutors said. Barbosa was later convicted and, on Feb. 28, 2023, sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for his leadership role in the cartel-linked trafficking organization.

The indictment against Sanchez-Valencia cites three phone calls between Barbosa and Sanchez-Valencia, allegedly connected to activities of the drug ring. Authorities say wiretapped calls captured what they described as an entrenched culture of violence within the group. Investigators allege members pursued people who owed drug debts, carried firearms during the conspiracy, and discussed kidnappings, assaults, and even murders as tactics to force debtors to pay.

DEA officials said the case highlights both the organization’s violence and its methods of concealment. “The trafficking of methamphetamine, concealed in everyday items like candle wax, demonstrates the lengths these organizations will go to poison our communities,” said Robert A. Saccone, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Seattle Field Division.

Sanchez-Valencia was among 37 Mexican nationals wanted for serious crimes in the United States who were transferred into US custody on Jan. 20, according to prosecutors. The Justice Department’s Criminal Division Office of International Affairs coordinated the transfers.

If convicted, Sanchez-Valencia faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life.