San Diego: Esteban Loiaza pleads guilty

Esteban Loaiza pleads guilty in federal court

The disgraced baseball player, who was arrested earlier this year on drug trafficking charges, pleaded guilty in federal court, in downtown San Diego.  He has been free on bail since May, when he posted the 150,000 bond, using a property owned by his ex girlfriend in Texas. 

Loaiza has been in custody since February when he was pulled over in a Mercedes-Benz 2010 SUV with a trap compartment, task force officers were granted a search warrant for a townhome in his name, where 20 kilos of cocaine where found in another car, in the garage.  The home was nearly empty, a safehouse, rented by Loiaza earlier in the month.  

It has been a long fall from grace from the former star, his finances and personal life now on messy public display, and a guilty plea in federal court, on the two count indictment returned earlier this year.  The charges were filed by Homeland Security Investigations, after the state charges, filed by prosectors in South Bay, where had was originally held on a 250,00 bail, were dropped. 

Being released from the MCC, in May 2018, 

A bail, that he couldn't make, or didn't want to, the former being more likely, as a federal judge granted a bail reduction, before the Texas property was used to secure his release.  The two count indictment was 841 and 846, possession with intent to distribute, and 846 the conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. 

The conspiracy charge was dropped, and Loaiza pleaded to possession with intent to distribute over 20 kilos of cocaine, which is a 10 year minimum.  Loaiza  may or may not cooperate with prosectors for a reduced sentence, but his lack of criminal history, and his baseball career will weigh in his sentence, which is set for November 2nd.  According to the San Diego Union Tribune's reports, both prosectors and his attorney agreed to recommend a 30 year term.

There has been many reports, including mine, that detailed the millions, (40 approx) that Loaiza made and evidently lost over the years, his financial situation will be a factor in his sentencing as well.  Reports from his social media profiles indicated he was driving an older model Hummer, and signing T Shirts at Plaza Bonita, which doesn't exactly seem the lifestyle of high end luxury he had grown accustomed to. 

In Culiacan baseball team jerseys, in better times. 

ZETA Tijuana, initially linked the drug shipment to the CJNG, who passed three cars in a convoy into San Diego, including the 2010 SUV that Loiaza was driving.  If this is true, it would be the first confirmed, or published case of CJNG product and cells being detected in San Diego. The violence in Tijuana, almost entirely attributed to cells of CJNG/CTNG and Sinaloa conflicts, has reached a high of 251 killings in July. 

Reports link the CJNG to trafficking through San Diego, to Los Angeles, but this has yet to be revealed in any public court filings of press releases.  Loaiza remains free on bail, in San Diego, though he may face deportation after he serves his time in custody.  He remains free to contemplate his choices, his failures, his success, as the bloodshed rises in his hometown of Tijuana.  

Sources: NBC San Diego, ZETA Tijuana