Erlin Lucero-Asencio
Abel Ayala-Garcia
INDIANAPOLIS — Two former Columbus residents who authorities say had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel are facing additional criminal charges after they rejected plea agreements from federal prosecutors.
An updated indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis charges former Columbus resident Erlin Lucero-Asencio with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and re-entering the United States as an undocumented immigrant who was previously removed due to a prior conviction.
The possession charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison, while the re-entering charge has a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Lucero-Asencio, a Guatemalan national, was deported from the U.S. from Louisiana in 2020, according to court records.
Lucero-Asencio had already been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The conspiracy to possess charge carries a possible sentence of 10 years to life in prison, while the money laundering charge has a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The updated indictment also charges former Columbus resident Abel Ayala-García with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. Ayala-García was already facing one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Lucero-Asencio made his initial appearing on the new charges Tuesday, waving his formal arraignment. Ayala-García was scheduled to make his initial appearance Monday.
Both suspects are currently in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and are being held at the Oldham County Jail in La Grange, Kentucky, according to court records.
The new charges are the latest twist in a criminal stemming from an investigation launched by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2021. Over the course of the investigation, federal agents received authorization to intercept and monitor communications on nine cellphones, including two belonging to Lucero-Asencio.
The investigation resulted in the arrest of over a dozen people — including several former residents of Bartholomew and Jackson counties — who authorities say were part of a drug trafficking network that used a number of couriers and mailing companies to transport methamphetamine and other substances from the U.S.-Mexico border to several areas of central and southern Indiana, including Bartholomew and Jackson counties.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials told The Republic in 2022 that the members of the drug trafficking ring were “some of the biggest suppliers” of drugs in Bartholomew and Jackson counties — including methamphetamine and fentanyl — and had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which experts say controls a wholesale distribution network in the U.S. and elsewhere to get drugs into the hands of local street dealers.
Of the five former local residents who were arrested and charged for their roles in the alleged conspiracy, only Lucero-Asencio and Ayala-García have refused to plead guilty.
Co-defendants Claudio García-Morales of Columbus, and Víctor Vázquez-Hernández and Allison Perdue, both of Seymour have pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty.
García-Morales was sentenced to 10 years and seven months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, including 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Vázquez-Hernández was sentenced to 10 years and seven months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Perdue is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.
Lucero-Asencio and Ayala-García, for their part, are scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 26 after declining to accept plea agreements.
Ayala-García’s court-appointed attorney, Doneaka Rucker-Brooks, told a federal judge this week she had met with her client and he “continues to be contentious and requests new counsel.”
“There continues to be to be a deterioration in attorney-client communication during conferences,” Rucker-Brooks stated in a status report. A federal judge had recently directed her to meet with Ayala-García and report back to the court while the judge weighs her request to stop representing him.
Rucker-Brooks had requested the conference after “certain issues arose that necessitate further discussion and clarification” during a May 20 hearing to determine whether Ayala-García was aware federal prosecutors had offered him a plea deal, according to court filings.
During the hearing, Ayala-Garcia “acknowledged his receipt and understanding of the tendered plea agreement” but “no change of plea was made.” The same day as the hearing, Rucker-Brooks filed a motion to stop representing Ayala-Garcia, telling the judge that “there has been a breakdown in attorney-client communication.”
Court filings do not describe the nature of the communication breakdown, but Ayala-García had sent the court a document on his own behalf earlier this month despite being represented by an attorney.
Last month, Lucero-Asencio also rejected a plea agreement that federal prosecutors had offered him and “chose to proceed to trial,” according to court filings.
Federal prosecutors had offered Lucero-Asencio a plea agreement, according to court records. This past August, Lucero-Asencio filed a petition to plead guilty to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. The petition that he signed stated he understood that the crime he would be pleading guilty to carries a possible sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $10 million.
Lucero-Asencio declined, however, to plead guilty to the money laundering charge, and federal prosecutors said they would proceed to trial on that count.
Lucero-Asencio then reversed course in November, telling his then-attorney Harold Samuel Ansell he did not intend to plead guilty to either count in the indictment and wanted to be appointed a new attorney.
Julie Chambers was appointed as his new attorney on Dec. 7.
Federal prosecutors re-extended the plea offer “to give new counsel a chance to work with Mr. Lucero.”
But Lucero-Asencio withdrew his petition to plead guilty, with his recently appointed attorney telling a federal judge that he “did not fully understand his sentencing guidelines or possible sentencing adjustments when he signed his original request to plead guilty.”
