A cocaine trafficker from Tulsa was convicted at trial of drug and gun charges, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.
After three days of trial and seven hours of deliberation, a federal jury in Dallas found Roberto Chairez, 33, guilty of one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to evidence presented at trial, in July 2020, Mr. Chairez negotiated the purchase of two kilograms of cocaine with another individual in Dallas in exchange for $58,000 in cash. Later that month, he drove from his home in Tulsa to Dallas to purchase the cocaine, renting a hotel room in Dallas for the night.
The morning of the intended purchase, he communicated again with the cocaine supplier, and began driving to the drug deal. On his way there, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper, working in partnership with the DEA, stopped his car and found $58,000 hidden inside. The trooper also found a high-capacity firearm in Mr. Chairez’s center console.
“Drug trafficking and its frequent companion, drug-related violence, threaten the health and safety of every single one of us,” said Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Dallas Field Division. “Mr. Chairez’s conviction holds him directly responsible for his intended actions and has undoubtedly saved lives, with a weapon off the streets and drugs that will never find a life to destroy.”
Mr. Chairez now faces up to life in federal prison. His sentencing date has not yet been set.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys P.J. Meitl and John Kull prosecuted the case. Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn presided over trial.