MCAS Miramar

Judge Sentences San Diego Marine and Fentanyl Trafficker Who Wanted to be Glorified in Drug Ballad

Roberto Salazar II reached out to a Mexican songwriter, telling them he wanted to be the subject of a "narcocorrido" and even pitched lyric ideas, according to prosecutors.

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A San Diego-based Marine who spent years recruiting comrades to traffic fentanyl and other drugs from Mexico into the U.S. was sentenced to more than a decade in prison Friday, and likely won't get to be the subject of a drug ballad, or "narcocorrido," as he'd hoped.

While stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Roberto Salazar II recruited fellow Marines, and even Southwestern College classmates, to work as couriers transporting drugs across the border, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Along with fentanyl, prosecutors say Salazar directed the movement of heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, and sometimes transported those drugs personally.

Before Salazar was arrested, he had reached out to a Mexican songwriter to commission a song about his life, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In one message, he told the artist, "I wanted to study and became a soldier, but I liked the fast life better," prosecutors said.

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Salazar's trafficking ring stretched from around 2015 until early last year, according to his plea agreement. Prosecutors say "dozens" of smuggling incidents occurred over that time period under Salazar's direction.

His plea agreement outlined a few of these events, including one occasion where Salazar paid a classmate at Southwestern Community College to drive a car loaded with drugs across the border, then deliver the product to various locations for further distribution.

One ex-Marine recruited by Salazar smuggled drugs into the country on five separate occasions, while another ex-Marine moved drugs both into and within the United States multiple times until being arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, where just under 15 pounds of fentanyl were found hidden in the engine compartment of the car the former Marine was driving, according to the plea agreement.

During Salazar's sentencing hearing in San Diego federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Miller said Salazar's movement of drugs such as fentanyl into the U.S. contributed to the "poisoning (of) our citizens, the very citizens he was sworn to protect."

Defense attorney Andrew Nietor argued for a sentence of just over eight years and said his client was "extremely remorseful and ashamed of his conduct."

Nietor told U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino that Salazar fell into criminal activity in his youth but was able to pull away from that life, become a U.S. Marine, and father to a young daughter.

Financial troubles later plagued him and while trying to find a way to support his child as a single father, he fell back into his former life, the attorney said.

Salazar told the judge, "I know I made a mistake. I got out of this before. I tried to stay on the right path."

Following the hearing, U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said Salazar's prosecution and prison sentence represented the dismantling of "another link in the supply chain for fentanyl and deadly drugs into the United States."

Grossman said that while serving as a Marine, Salazar was "leading a secret life as a drug trafficker. He was supposed to be protecting and defending our country, but instead he was bringing tremendous harm to Americans by importing fentanyl and other deadly and dangerous drugs into the United States."

β€œMr. Salazar betrayed his oath to the Marine Corps and posed a significant threat to our national security by participating in an illegal operation to smuggle fentanyl into the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Todd Battaglia of the NCIS Marine Corps West Field Office. β€œNCIS and our partners remain committed to fully investigating all allegations of criminality within the ranks that threaten military readiness and jeopardize the safety of our community members.” 

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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