“Investigations into criminal gang activity is essential to keeping our communities and community members safe.  This is a case in which local, state and federal law enforcement officers teamed together and combined expertise to investigate illegal drug and gun crimes.” – CSLEA President Alan Barcelona

FRESNO – On May 22, 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Jonathan Gallegos, 32, of Ivanhoe, was sentenced to 17 years and seven months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine and marijuana and using a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, the charges arose from a long-term investigation that uncovered evidence of a scheme involving the trade of illegal drugs sourced in Mexico and California for firearms sourced in Texas. In 2021, a team of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers partnered in an investigation into the Tulare County Surenos Street Gang. Part of the investigation focused on Gallegos and his associates, who were involved in shipping illegal drugs and firearms across state lines.

Between April 6, 2021, and Dec. 17, 2021, Gallegos and associates shipped kilograms of methamphetamine and marijuana from post offices in Central California to residences in San Antonio, Texas. Gallegos’s drug-buying customers shipped firearms back to Gallegos and his associates in California, as payment for the narcotics they had received.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, the Tulare County Area Regencies Gun Enforcement Team, the Visalia Police Department, the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation, the California Highway Patrol’s Special Operations Unit, and the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.