Chicago Man Sentenced For Role In Transporting Contraband Into A West Virginia Federal Prison

Sunday, December 21, 2025, 8:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

BLUEFIELD, W.VA.- Last Wednesday, a 27-year-old Chicago, Illinois, man was sentenced to a term of federal probation for his role in smuggling schemes to transport contraband into the Federal Correctional Institution McDowell, located in Welch, West Virginia, utilizing a drone.

     According to U.S. Attorney Moore Capito, on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, Arturo Joel Gallegos, 27, of Chicago, Illinois, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge David A. Faber to 36 months of federal probation, after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Introduce or Attempt to Introduce Contraband into a Federal Prison.

According To Court Documents

     According to charging documents filed and statements made in the District Court, on February 1, 2024, Gallegos traveled from Chicago to Welch, West Virginia, with two other men, co-defendants Miguel Angel Aleman-Piceno and Francisco Alejandro Gonzalez. Later that day, law enforcement Officers caught Aleman-Piceno and Gonzalez with a drone and camouflaged packages containing tobacco, four cellular phones, chargers, phone cards, and marijuana next to the fence.

     Also, that day, Officers encountered Gallegos at a Welch motel, where they seized packaging materials, tobacco, and marijuana. 

     As part of his plea allocution, Gallegos admitted that he conspired with Aleman-Piceno and Gonzalez to fly the contraband onto the grounds of FCI McDowell, and that he expected to be paid for his participation in the smuggling conspiracy.

     Aleman-Piceno, 23, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2025, and Gonzalez, 25, pleaded guilty on July 7, 2025, each to conspiracy to commit the crime of attempting to introduce contraband into a federal prison. The two were each sentenced to three years of federal probation.

     U.S. Attorney Capito commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, which led to the successful prosecutions of Gallegos, Aleman-Piceno, and Gonzalez.