ATLANTA – Zury Brito-Arroyo, Bonifacio Brito-Maldonado, and Roberto Arroyo-Garcia have been sentenced to federal prison for manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine in a home where a minor child resided and within 1,000 feet of a school. The three men, all of whom had illegally entered the United States from Mexico, utilized a family home in Norcross less than 200 feet from an elementary school to operate a methamphetamine laboratory.
“These men ran a lab churning out volatile and toxic chemicals to produce concentrated methamphetamine,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “In doing so, they were exposing not only members of their own family, including children, an expectant mother, and a grandmother, to serious harm, but also innocent neighbors and school children who were completely unaware of the danger.”
“Methamphetamine production can have devasting consequences that go beyond those associated with taking the drug. One such consequence is the toxic vapor and deadly chemicals produced when it is being made. These chemicals pose extreme danger to anyone in the vicinity. The innocent children in the school next door and even the other family members in the household were placed in danger due to the defendants’ recklessness,” said Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in Georgia and Alabama. “This is a growing threat and HSI and its law enforcement partners are working to identify, arrest, and prosecute those involved in producing and selling this poison.”
“Those who manufacture methamphetamine, because of its toxicity and volatility, pose a grave danger to everyone,” said the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division Robert J. Murphy. “Given that this operational ‘meth’ lab was near a school, the outcome could have been devastating to the school children, staff and to the community at-large. Because of spirited law enforcement cooperation between DEA and its counterparts, these defendants will receive well-deserved time in prison.”
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Erskine, the charges and other information presented in court: In August 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents investigating a local methamphetamine distributor tracked him to a house in a residential neighborhood they believed was used as part of the drug manufacturing and distribution operation.
As agents were watching the house, Georgia State Patrol, working in conjunction with HSI, stopped defendant Zury Brito-Arroyo as he was driving away from the house. Inside his car, they found $10,000 cash wrapped in green cellophane and a 9mm pistol. Brito-Arroyo’s five-year-old child and wife were also in the car. Agents then searched the stash house and found defendants Roberto Arroyo-Garcia and Bonifacio Brito-Maldonado actively operating a methamphetamine laboratory in a shed in the backyard. Chemical fumes coming from the operation were so strong that one of the men began vomiting. Agents detained the two, but Arroyo-Garcia resisted arrest and fled. He was ultimately found hiding nearby and was arrested. Agents later searched Brito-Arroyo’s cell phone pursuant to a federal search warrant and discovered an app that monitored security cameras mounted at the house.
Agents seized over 10.7 kilograms of finished crystal methamphetamine from the shed and inside the house, some of which was over 90% pure, plus additional methamphetamine in liquid form that had not been fully processed into solid form for distribution. They also seized an additional 9mm pistol, $8,500 cash, and other methamphetamine trafficking paraphernalia including respirators, rubber gloves, and digital scales.
The DEA Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team responded to the scene to remove the dangerous chemicals. Agents also found children’s clothes inside the house, and later confirmed that a ten-year-old child, who was related to the defendants, lived there.
With assistance from the Sandy Springs Police Department, agents also searched another residence used by Brito-Arroyo, where they discovered a plastic bin with methamphetamine residue, another 9mm pistol, an electronic money counter, and four bundles of cash totaling $41,000 wrapped in green cellophane.
- Roberto Arroyo-Garcia, 39, of Guerrero, Mexico, who was previously deported on two separate occasions following prior drug convictions, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release. Arroyo-Garcia was convicted on these charges on October 23, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Zury Brito-Arroyo, 28, of Guerrero, Mexico, was sentenced on February 25, 2020, to 21 years in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release. Brito-Arroyo was convicted on these charges on October 17, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Bonifacio Brito-Maldonado, 24, of Michoacan, Mexico, was sentenced on October 19, 2020, to 19 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Brito-Maldonado was convicted on these charges on October 17, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Georgia State Patrol, and the Sandy Springs Police Department are investigating this case.
