Federal prosecutors charge five in Hobbs meth and fentanyl ring

Federal prosecutors have charged five individuals in a multistate operation that distributed methamphetamine and fentanyl across New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The case centers on a Hobbs-based trafficking network that operated between June 2025 and July 2026.

Cesar Antonio Huerta, 28, is accused of leading the group. According to court documents, Jesus Landeros, 31, supplied the drugs with assistance from Marycruz Perez, 34, and Josefina Cabrera-Becerra, 59. Huerta and his girlfriend, Mariela Belen Lechuga, 24, are alleged to have redistributed the narcotics in Hobbs and collected the proceeds.

Investigators identified at least 13 suspicious shipments sent through the U.S. mail from Arizona and Southern California to addresses tied to Huerta. On Sept. 11, 2025, U.S. Postal Inspectors intercepted a parcel containing approximately 2.2 kilograms of pure methamphetamine. Prosecutors state that Cabrera mailed that specific package from Inglewood, California, and that postal records and surveillance footage linked it to the defendants.

Financial records show Huerta and Lechuga sent about $186,851 to Landeros, Perez, and Cabrera between June 2025 and July 2026. The payments were made through Cash App, Zelle, and other electronic platforms using labels such as “clothes,” “shoes,” “rent,” and “food.” Investigators also recovered about 5,997 grams of fentanyl and one pound of methamphetamine from Cabrera in California in April 2026.

All five defendants face conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison if convicted. Huerta also faces a separate charge for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a weapon agents recovered from a vehicle occupied by him and Lechuga during a traffic stop in September 2026.