San Diego: Esteban Loaiza charged federally in cocaine case

Esteban Loaiza charged federally in cocaine case

A month after his arrest in Imperial Beach, the former baseball player has been charged in federal court in San Diego, after the charges in Chula Vista were dismissed. A federal complaint filed today details the Feb. 9th arrest of Loiza with additional details.  He his being charged with one count of possession of cocaine, with intent to distribute, in violation of USC 841.

The process will now proceed in federal court, and Loaiza has remained in custody, unable or unwilling to make the 250k bond, that set in state court, after his arrest.  He will be transferred to federal custody at the San Diego MCC, or remain in custody at the central jail downtown, where he was transferred in February from Chula Vista.

The complaint details the events of February 9th with more information, than was available earlier.  The Border Crimes Suppression Task Force was surveiling Loaiza in a 2010 Mercedes Benz SUV, that crossed with 4 other cars earlier that day.  He was not stopped or detained at the border, but was followed as he arrived to the townhouse in Imperial Beach on Fern Street, and pulled into the garage. 

Task force members watched as he left the house 10 minutes later, driving the same Mercedes Benz SUV, and directed a marked Sheriff's Deputy to pull him over, for a traffic violation.  Inside the SUV, the Deputy found a trap compartment, when drug sniffing dogs alerted, and by then a search warrant was ready to be executed on his home.

Task force members found few to no personal items in the home, which had been leased under Loaiza's name since the beginning of the month, common in homes used for the storage and concealment of narcotics.  Inside the garage, was a minivan, which contained the 20 kilograms of cocaine, in the floor panels, beneath several large baseball bags, with Loaiza's name. 

Reports from Zeta Tijuana linked the cocaine to CJNG, but no further details are known. It is not a mystery, but it is curious.  His instagram posts link him to a much younger women, who was charged in San Diego in 2005 for marijuana trafficking.  She has the surgery and look of a certain type.  The interesting parts will be what led Loaiza to this.  Financial problems is the one that stands out the most.  Screaming.  Tax liens on properties in Tijuana, and 10 years since a major MLB paycheck. 

Adela Navarro suggests the "thrill of the narco" in her piece in ZETA Tijuana, and she may well be right.  Yet, for Loaiza to rent a property in his name, must be arrogant, or coerced, desperate, or sloppy on some level.  Sentencing docs will reveal more, as the process takes its course. Defense attorneys may claim he was forced, or tricked, surely not responsible on the level a 10 year minimum would indicate. We will see. 

Sources: 

San Diego Union Tribune, http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-loaiza-federal-20180307-story.html by Kristina Davis 

Zeta Tijuana http://zetatijuana.com/2018/02/esteban-loaiza-la-droga-ligada-al-cjng/