Illegal alien couple sentenced as Mexican bar owner admits running cocaine operation in Ohio

Federal prosecutors announced the resolution of two major cocaine trafficking cases this week involving Mexican nationals in Ohio, including the sentencing of an illegal alien couple caught with more than two kilograms of cocaine and a loaded handgun and the guilty plea of a bar owner who admitted using two Ohio businesses to facilitate drug trafficking.

Laura Reyes Esquivel, 49, and Mario Gamino Sanchez, 30, both of Lewis Center, were sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, law enforcement stopped the couple’s vehicle in June 2025 and discovered more than two kilograms of cocaine and a loaded handgun inside. Prosecutors said the cocaine was intended for distribution in the Columbus area for personal profit.

Sanchez pleaded guilty in December 2025, while Reyes Esquivel entered her guilty plea in April 2026. Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison sentenced Reyes Esquivel on Tuesday, and U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced Sanchez last week.

In a separate case announced Wednesday, Sergio Velasco-Cortes, a 42-year-old Mexican citizen living in West Chester on an expired visa, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and participating in the buying and selling of stolen vehicles.

Federal prosecutors said Velasco-Cortes owned Ibiza Restaurant and Lounge in Cincinnati and Bar Bunny in Middletown while participating in a drug trafficking organization that distributed kilogram quantities of cocaine throughout the Southern District of Ohio.

According to court records, Velasco-Cortes purchased Ibiza in 2024 for $250,000 in cash from another member of the drug trafficking organization. He admitted conducting drug trafficking activity at both businesses.

Prosecutors said Velasco-Cortes traveled to Indianapolis in late 2024 and early 2025 to purchase bulk quantities of cocaine before transporting the drugs back to southern Ohio. Authorities also linked him to cocaine shipments arriving from Puerto Rico that were delivered to Bar Bunny in February 2025.

When investigators executed search warrants at his residence in March and April 2025, they discovered seven stolen vehicles, several with falsified vehicle identification numbers. According to prosecutors, Velasco-Cortes and others discussed purchasing, altering and selling stolen vehicles.

Velasco-Cortes was among six defendants charged in the federal investigation in April 2025. He now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, with sentencing to be scheduled by the court.

The cases were investigated separately by federal law enforcement agencies. Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the Lewis Center case, while the Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation involving Velasco-Cortes.

The Lewis Center prosecution was part of the Justice Department’s Operation Take Back America initiative, while the Cincinnati case was investigated through the Homeland Security Task Force, a federal partnership targeting drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations and criminal illegal aliens operating in the United States.