Operator of Sham Produce Companies Sentenced to Federal Prison for Cocaine Importation and Money Laundering

ATLANTA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)), published as received.

ATLANTA – Carlos Salazar-Garcia has been sentenced to federal prison for using sham companies to import hundreds of pounds of cocaine concealed in fruit and electronics shipments to the Atlanta area and then laundering the proceeds back to Mexico. 

“Salazar-Garcia laundered money for Mexican drug traffickers and attempted to smuggle nearly 200 pounds of cocaine into our country,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “But federal law enforcement officers working collaboratively across agencies and jurisdictions spoiled his scheme, seized his drugs, and haled him into court to face the significant consequences.”

“Drug traffickers think they can hide behind fake produce companies and secret shipments of electronics, but they are wrong,” said Jason T. Stevens, Special Agent in Charge for HSI Arizona. “Carlos Salazar-Garcia tried to use these schemes to poison our communities and launder over a million dollars, but he underestimated our persistence and partnerships. By working together across borders, HSI special agents and our law enforcement partners successfully dismantled his network, and now he will spend his time in federal prison thinking about the consequences.”

“Whether cocaine is hidden in fruit, electronics, or behind the façade of legitimate businesses, drug traffickers will continue looking for new ways to move their poison,” said Michael J. Connolly, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. “What they cannot hide is the determination of the Homeland Security Task Force and our law enforcement partners. This investigation uncovered a calculated effort to import hundreds of pounds of cocaine, and today’s sentence ensures the defendant is held accountable for his role in that operation.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: In December 2022, federal agents in Laredo, Texas inspected a shipment from Mexico and located 119 pounds of cocaine concealed among electronic transformers destined for a farmers market in Clayton County, Georgia. The investigation revealed that a sham produce company operated by Salazar-Garcia coordinated the shipment. 

In November 2023, agents at the U.S./Mexico border in McAllen, Texas intercepted approximately 66 pounds of cocaine concealed in a shipment of limes. Agents learned that the limes were destined for another sham produce company operated by Salazar-Garcia. Additional investigation revealed that, through a variety of financial transactions, Salazar-Garcia and co-defendant Andrea Principe laundered over a million dollars in drug proceeds to Mexico.

Yesterday, Carlos Salazar-Garcia, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to ten years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Salazar-Garcia pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, cocaine importation, and money laundering charges on April 20, 2026. 

Andrea Principe, 37, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, pled guilty on June 30, 2026, to conspiracy to commit money laundering. She will be sentenced on October 15, 2026.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Assistant United States Attorney Dwayne A. Brown Jr. and former Assistant United States Attorney Amy Palumbo prosecuted the case. 

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Atlanta Wilhelm HSTF comprises agents and officers from ATF, CGIS, DEA, FBI, ICE-HSI, IRS-CI, DOL-OIG, DSS, USMS, USPIS, and USSS, as well as numerous state and local agencies, with the prosecution being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6185. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.