Last remaining member of drug trafficking organization sentenced to federal prison

 Prosecution shut down ring supplying south Georgia, north Florida

BRUNSWICK, GA – The final remaining defendant among two dozen people indicted for operating a drug distribution ring in south Georgia and northern Florida has been sentenced to federal prison.

Jose Salguero, 32, of Brunswick, Ga., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to 121 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Cocaine, Methamphetamine, MDMA, and Marijuana, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. After completion of his prison term, Salguero will be required to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Along with his now-convicted and sentenced co-defendants, Jose Salguero was responsible for distributing significant amounts of recreational poison throughout a large area of south Georgia and beyond,” said U.S. Attorney Christine.  “We are committed to coordinating with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to make our neighborhoods safer by eradicating these criminal drug dealers.”

According to court documents and in information shared in court proceedings, the federal, state and local investigation into violent gang and drug trafficking activities in the greater Glynn County area determined that Robert Johnson, 54, of Jacksonville, Fla., supplied Salguero and other members of the conspiracy with illegal narcotics that they in turn distributed throughout the area. Johnson, who has a prior federal conviction in federal court for drug trafficking, is serving a 78-month sentence in federal prison.  

All of the defendants in the conspiracy have now been sentenced in U.S. District Court. Together they have more than 60 previous felony convictions in state court.

“Salguero is the last of more than 20 defendants, part of a major drug trafficking organization, to be sentenced for inflicting a scourge of drugs and crime in our communities,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI’s Safe Streets Gang Task Forces, comprised of federal, state and local law enforcement officers, remain committed to dismantling these types of criminal organizations.”

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Coastal Georgia Violent Gang Task Force, along with the Glynn County Police Department and the Brunswick Police Department, and was prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kirkland.