A Tijuana plastic surgeon allegedly sold $3 million in cocaine to undercover officers and was arrested with two other men in Denver on Wednesday when the drugs were delivered in a tractor-trailer.
Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Denver police negotiated with surgeon Fernando Rodriguez-Pina for the delivery of 24 kilograms of the drug, DEA officials said.
On Sunday, Rodriguez-Pina and Carlos Rodriguez-Coronel flew to Denver from Los Angeles.
When they got here, the men told undercover officers that the cocaine was on its way, DEA officials said.
Wednesday morning, truck driver Uriel David Velasco-Gonzalez, accompanied by Rodriguez-Coronel, delivered the drugs to the Pilot Truck Stop at Vasquez Boulevard and Interstate 70, agents said.
Rodriguez-Pina arrived on his own.
Officers said they found the cocaine inside the trailer. The drugs were divided into 24 brick-shaped packages and placed inside a black duffel bag.
Denver SWAT officers waited for the tractor-trailer to arrive and arrested the three men at the truck stop.
Rodriguez-Pina, Rodriguez- Coronel and Velasco-Gonzalez are being charged in U.S. district court with conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.
If the men are convicted, they each face 10 years to life in prison, a $4 million fine or both.
