Leader Of Nashville-Mexico Drug Ring Sentenced

NASHVILLE, TN — After a May guilty plea, the leader of an extensive heroin and methamphetamine distribution ring stretching from Mexico to Nashville will spend 17 1/2 years in federal prison.

Jorge Andres Lopez Montiel also known as Arturo "Jimmy" Jiminez-Lopez, 27, of Nashvill. and Nayarit, Mexico, a Mexican citizen who had been previously deported from the United States, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to possessing heroin with intent to distribute and conspiring to distribute heroin and methamphetamine. He was sentenced Tuesday.

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Montiel was arrested in September 2009 in possession of approximately one-half pound of heroin, a firearm and approximately $20,000 in cash. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2009 but was deported to Mexico before he could be taken into custody. After his deportation, he continued to distribute heroin and then later meth, through a network of distributors who transferred the proceeds of the drug sales to Mexico.

Beginning in mid-2013, the Specialized Investigations Division of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department used undercover officers and confidential informants to repeatedly order heroin from Montiel through calls to Mexico. Montiel sent various co-conspirators to deliver the heroin and the transactions often occurred in restrooms at retail stores. As a result of this investigations, 22 people were arrested on local charges and approximately 14 pounds of heroin and one and one-half pounds of methamphetamine was seized.

On March 31, 2015, an informant obtained about one pound of high-purity methamphetamine through contact with Montiel. MNPD officers then obtained a search warrant to search the residence where that transaction occurred. Officers executed the search warrant on April 1, 2015, and were met by gunfire as they entered the residence. Matthew McKervey, 26, of Nashville, was charged with firearm and drug offenses and is currently awaiting trial.

Montiel was arrested on May 30, 2016, as he illegally re-entered the United States from Mexico, and eventually pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking offenses in this case.

In addition to Montiel and McKervey, three others were charged with federal offenses: Brian Goforth, 44; Daniel Alcala, 29; and David Becerra-Ruiz, 42, all of Nashville. Goforth’s case is pending and Becerra-Ruiz was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison. McKervey and Alcala are awaiting trial.

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