CLEVELAND — Two Cleveland men have been charged with conspiring to traffic firearms and money laundering for the drug cartel in Mexico, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
Yarquimedes Rodriguez Hilario, 32, and Adison Lopez-Rameriz, 36, are listed in the unsealed indictment and, if convicted on all counts, they face a maximum penalty of 35 years in federal prison.
Court documents state that since 2021, undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been posing as Mexican cartel members. This is when they were introduced to Hilario, and in undercover conversations with him and others, the discussed the purchase of AR-15s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, according to the DOJ.
Another one of the co-conspirators said he sold AR-15s and AK-47s to El Salvadorans, and also had cocaine for distribution.
Additionally, Hilario had offered fentanyl to one of the agents to make pills, the DOJ said.
In late 2021, the members had sold or arranged the sale of at least 90 rifles, as well as one Mac-10-style machine gun to undercover agents in the Middle District of Florida and Cleveland.
According to the documents, in October 2021, Lopez-Ramirez had delivered nine .223/5.56 caliber rifles and one 9mm rifled to undercover agents in St. Petersburg, Florida, in exchange for $16,000.
In another incident in November 2022, Hilario was told by an undercover agents that his associates in Mexico were “battling and losing,” and that they needed to purchase more firearms. This led to the March 2, 2023, when Hilario made the arrangement to deliver 40 AM-15 multi-caliber firearms. Then, Saleh Yusef Saleh, who assembled the parts to make the firearms, arrived at the meeting with Hilario and other undercover agents.
When the undercover agents inspected one of the boxes of firearms, Saleh and Hilario were arrested.
Hilario was sentenced to 13 years and four months imprisonment in March 2024, and Saleh was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in federal prison in November 2024.
