Pacheco: ‘Top two dope dealers’ in DHS captured

From left, Miguel Gilbert, 26, Teresa Coronado, 20 and Rigoberto Lopez, 22

Two Desert Hot Springs residents — who federal and local authorities say are the city’s top two rival drug dealers — could face life in federal prison after their arrests Tuesday during a raid dubbed “Operation Falling Sun Phase II.”

Rigoberto Lopez, 22; Miguel Gilbert, 26; and Lopez’s girlfriend, Teresa Coronado, 20, were arrested without incident by a multi-agency law enforcement task force, Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco announced during a news conference and as reported at mydesert.com.

Lopez and Gilbert have ties to Mexican drug cartels, and the two rivals acted as wholesale distributors to the city’s gangs, who then sold the drugs on local streets to help fund their activities, Pacheco said.

“These two guys are the top two dope dealers in Desert Hot Springs,” Pacheco said. Authorities declined to detail the suspects’ alleged supply and distribution methods.

The two men face life in federal prison without parole on drug-dealing charges, authorities said. An undercover informant is expected to testify in the case, Pacheco said.

The arrests stemmed from the same investigation launched in August that led to the largest law enforcement operation in Riverside County history, Operation Falling Sun.

Those March 27 raids netted more than 130 arrests of suspected gang members and parole violators, many of whom have been convicted and sent to state and federal prisons, Pacheco said.

The district attorney in March estimated arrests at more than 120.

Source:
Pacheco: 'Top two dope dealers' in DHS captured
mydesert.com