2 Indicted in Big Coke Seizure at Checkpoint

A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment Wednesday against the man and woman who were arrested at the San Onofre immigration checkpoint after 447 pounds of cocaine allegedly were found in their truck.

Jose Arturo Leon Figueroa, 40, and Lucia Margarita Canales Aparicio, 21, were charged with conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and possessing cocaine with intent to distribute.

Each defendant was also charged with making false statements regarding Canales Aparicio’s citizenship. Assistant U.S. Atty. Pat Swan said she is an undocumented alien from El Salvador, but said Leon Figueroa told authorities that Canales Aparicio was a citizen of the United States; Canales Aparicio told authorities she was a Mexican citizen who had documents that allowed her to reside in the United States.

At a detention hearing Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Roger Curtis McKee ordered the defendants detained without bail at the Metropolitan Correctional Center pending trial.

Leon Figueroa, a native of Mexico residing legally in the United States, and Canales Aparicio live together in Lennox, an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, authorities said.

The cocaine seizure was the largest ever in San Diego County. It had an estimated street value of $43.4 million. The largest previous single seizure occurred in April, when 75 pounds of the drug was confiscated at the San Ysidro border crossing.

The Border Patrol said the cocaine was found Thursday when Agent Kathy Cunningham ordered Leon Figueroa to pull into the secondary inspection area of the checkpoint on Interstate 5 after she noticed that the couple seemed uneasy and grew suspicious that they were undocumented aliens.

After determining that Canales Aparicio was in the country illegally, agents searched for other aliens in the bed of the pickup truck. Instead, they allegedly found the cocaine inside four suitcases that were covered by a blanket.

Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in federal prison and a fine of $750,000. Swan said the two drug counts carry a maximum penalty of 20 years each, and the false-statement charges carry maximum five-year penalties.