Hacienda Heights Man Sentenced For Supplying Drugs To West Virginia Drug Trafficking Organization

Tuesday, June 10, 2025, 2:50 P.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

CHARLESTON, W.VA.- A 42-year-old Hacienda Heights, California, man and major drug supplier will be spending nearly the next three decades in federal prison after being sentenced last Tuesday for his role in a large-scale West Virginia drug trafficking organization that was responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl throughout the Charleston, West Virginia area and elsewhere within the Southern District of West Virginia.

     According to Acting U.S. Lisa G. Johnston, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, Alejandro Gallegos, also known as “Alex,” “Rooster,” and “Primo,” 42, of Hacienda Heights, California, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas E. Johnston to 324 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty pleas to federal narcotics offenses.

Gallegos Previously Appeared And Pleaded Guilty

     Gallegos previously appeared in Federal Court in Charleston, West Virginia, and pleaded guilty before Judge Johnston to Conspiracy to Distribute 500 Grams or More of Methamphetamine; and Distribution of 500 Grams or More of a Substance Containing Cocaine. During his earlier plea allocution, Gallegos admitted to being a major supplier of illicit narcotics in a drug trafficking organization that operated in Charleston, West Virginia.

According To Documents Filed With The District Court

     According to the charging documents filed with the District Court, during a multi-agency narcotics investigation dubbed “Operation Smoke and Mirrors,” Investigators determined that from around February 2021 to around March 2023, Gallegos conspired with others to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine within the Southern District of West Virginia.

     On March 18, 2023, Gallegos directed co-defendant Ildiberto Gonzalez Jr. to deliver approximately 196 pounds of methamphetamine and four kilograms of cocaine from California to Bluefield, West Virginia, in his 2009 Freightliner semi-truck with an attached trailer. 

     Gallegos arranged the shipment in exchange for approximately $400,000 with another co-conspirator in West Virginia. Gallegos arranged for Gonzalez and the West Virginia co-conspirator to meet in a specific parking lot in Bluefield, West Virginia, on March 22, 2023. There, Gonzalez provided the controlled substances to the other individual in exchange for a box that Gonzalez believed contained the cash.

     Gonzalez Jr., 31, of San Bernadino, California, was sentenced on July 22, 2024, to 14 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute a quantity of methamphetamine. 

Operation Smoke And Mirrors

     Gallegos and Gonzalez are among 31 individuals convicted as a result of “Operation Smoke and Mirrors,” a major drug trafficking investigation that yielded the largest methamphetamine seizure in West Virginia history. Law enforcement seized well over 400 pounds of methamphetamine as well as 40 pounds of cocaine, 3 pounds of fentanyl, 19 firearms, and $935,000 in cash.

     Gallegos was found by the Court to be responsible for approximately 740 pounds of methamphetamine through his role in the drug trafficking organization. 

     “No defendant sentenced in the Southern District of West Virginia has been responsible for the amount of methamphetamine attributable to this defendant. There is no comparison,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “While thousands of miles away from our communities, he directed methamphetamine from Mexico to West Virginia for the sake of profits, knowing that his actions would add to the devastation of the drug abuse crisis in the Southern District of West Virginia.”