Riverside Brothers Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison For Heroin Trafficking

CBS Los Angeles

December 20, 2023

Two Southern California brothers who ran a heroin-delivery operation — taking telephone orders from customers using code words like "taco" — have been sentenced to 24 years each in federal prison, prosecutors announced.

Julio Cesar Martinez, 45, of Riverside, and Victor Martinez, 46, of Hemet, parts of California's sprawling Inland Empire, were sentenced Monday. Both pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute heroin and acknowledged distributing at least 29 kilograms (64 pounds) of the drug in Orange County, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.

The ring operated from at least September 2003 to July 2021 and sold heroin that was smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico by couriers who sometimes hid the drug in their body cavities, the U.S. attorney's office said.

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