TEXARKANA, Texas - A jury seated to decide the fate of a New Boston man accused of participating in a major drug trafficking operation heard testimony Wednes-day from a woman who smuggled kilos of heroin through a checkpoint in South Texas.
The woman testified that she has been to the New Boston home of Armando Moya while involved in the trafficking of kilos of heroin. She was questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Locker.
Armando Moya, 47, is accused of conspiracy to traffic heroin, cocaine and fentanyl and of carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.
Moya came to the attention of the Drug Enforcement Administration after his brother, Jose Moya, was arrested June 6 during a traffic stop in Jim Wells County, which was orchestrated by DEA agents.
Jose Moya, a Mexican doctor, was traveling with two women dressed in long, billowing skirts which concealed the bundles of heroin and fentanyl stuffed in the leggings they wore underneath. One of the women, who has pleaded guilty to a federal drug crime in the Southern District of Texas, testified Wednesday that she had carried drugs through a checkpoint in southern Falfurrias, Texas, more than 10 times.
The woman said she was typically paid about $500 per bundle and that after passing through the checkpoint, she and another woman would move the bundles hidden on their bodies into a suitcase for the rest of the trip to Dallas or New Boston.
The woman said Armando Moya sometimes collected the drugs at a Waffle House in Dallas from his brother and that at other times they traveled to New Boston to deliver the drugs and return home with large amounts of U.S. currency.
After seizing eight kilos of heroin and one kilo of fentanyl from Jose Moya and the two women, DEA agents in the Eastern District of Texas sprung into action. Based on information received from Jose Moya, agents quickly acquired a search warrant for Armando Moya's house.
Lead agent on the case, Max Mella, testified under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Hornok, that Armando Moya was somewhat forthcoming the night of the search but that his cooperation was short lived.
Mella testified that Armando Moya agreed to speak with him, provided the code for his cell phone and admitted he was in the business of moving drugs and cash to several major U.S. cities at the time of his arrest in the early hours of June 7, 2018.
Mella testified that Armando Moya confessed that night he was waiting for a delivery of drugs from his brother and that he intended to send his brother home with a large amount of cash. Seized from Armando Moya's house during the search was nearly $200,000.
Mella said that information gleaned that night from Armando Moya's cell phone eventually led to the arrest of an associate of Armando Moya's who has since pleaded guilty. That associate and other data acquired from Armando Moya's phone and an analysis of electronic data led Mella to conclude that Armando Moya made numerous trips to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Chicago to conduct alleged drug trafficking.
A DEA digital analyst, Mark Sedwick of Dallas, gave the jury a thorough accounting of where Armando Moya and his associate's cell phones traveled throughout the United States and compared some of the travels to an analysis of Jose Moya's phone. The data showed that Jose Moya traveled nine or 10 hours for a 10-minute meeting at Waffle House in Dallas with Armando Moya, Sedwick testified.
A DEA financial analyst testified that he was tasked with determining if a petition Armando Moya made in August 2018 for the return of $18,700 of the more than $198,000 seized from his home June 7, 2018 was legitimately earned.
Glen Snyder testified that he could find nothing in Armando Moya's financials that would explain how he could amass more than $18,000 in cash and concluded that the money was actually proceeds from drug trafficking.
Hornok asked Snyder if Armando Moya's claim that some of the money was legitimately earned meant that Armando Moya is admitting that the balance of the seized $198,000 was not legitimately earned. Snyder said he believes all of the seized money represents illegal drug trafficking proceeds.
Testimony is expected to continue Thursday morning in Texarkana's downtown federal building before U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III.