Sinaloa Cartel Associates Sentenced To Federal Prison For Trafficking Cocaine

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven has sentenced Anthony Carroll (50, Tampa) to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. The court also ordered Carroll to forfeit $10,340, a facilitating property of the offenses. Carroll was found guilty by a federal jury on April 9, 2024.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Carroll and his co-defendant, Pablo Villalobos (62, Sinaloa, Mexico) agreed with an individual located in Mexico and associated with the Sinaloa Cartel to purchase 30 kilograms of cocaine in Tampa. An undercover agent in contact with the Mexican cartel member was solicited by that individual to transport the 30 kilograms of cocaine from El Paso, Texas to Tampa. The agent met with an unnamed individual in El Paso to take possession of the cocaine and the courier was later surveilled leaving the United States and entering Mexico at Chihuahua, Mexico.

Once in Tampa, the undercover agent contacted the Mexican cartel member who told the agent that two people would be arriving to the meeting location in a white vehicle. Carroll and Villalobos arrived shortly afterwards in Carroll’s white car. The pair met with two undercover agents, paid them the transportation fee, and took possession of the 30 kilograms of cocaine. A short while later, troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol stopped the vehicle, a narcotics dog was deployed, and troopers discovered the cocaine in the trunk of the vehicle. The pair were then arrested.

Villalobos pleaded guilty on April 3, 2024. On July 10, 2024, he was sentenced to four years and nine months’ imprisonment.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Tampa District Office and El Paso Field Division and the Florida Highway Patrol. It was being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shauna S. Hale.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.