A woman whose main job was directing a Laredo daycare will now spend nearly four years in federal prison for her role in a cocaine trafficking scheme.
Cynthia Elizabeth Arellano, 34, was sentenced this week to 45 months in federal prison followed by four years of supervised release after pleading guilty to “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Federal prosecutors said Arellano stored nearly 245 kilograms of cocaine and over $428,000 in drug money inside her home, where she lived with her husband and young daughter, as part of a high-level drug trafficking crew.
“Drugs and violence often go together, so the idea of using your home where your three-year-old daughter lives, as a stash house, is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible,” U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei stated.
“The amount of money and drugs at her home demonstrates that the defendant was a trusted member of the conspiracy, and that kind of trust only comes from a long history of repeated transactions. She knew exactly what she was getting into, and, by extension, what she was getting her family into,” Ganjei added.
The case was broken open after an undercover operation in April of 2024, in which “co-conspirator” Cristian Jareth Flores tried to set up the sale of one kilogram of cocaine for $14,000. According to investigators, another accomplice, Juan Antonio Ochoa-Saucedo, picked up the kilo of cocaine from Arellano’s home and delivered it to an undercover agent at a nearby corner store.
Authorities also say it wasn’t his first time collecting a big chunk of cocaine from her home.
A follow-up search of the home found logs of drug ledgers (or past sales and debts owed), money counting machines, and evidence of a growing trafficking network throughout the state.
Arellano admitted during her plea hearing that she committed the offense because she “needed money.”
Flores and Ochoa-Saucedo also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 36 and 57 months, for their involvement in the drug deals.
Arellano was allowed to remain free on bond and will report to a federal prison facility at a later date.
The case was investigated by the DEA, along with the Laredo Police Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) initiative—a federal program specifically focused on breaking up large criminal enterprises in the area.