Three members of a methamphetamine conversion and distribution ring in Rome, Georgia, have been arrested and sentenced to federal prison, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Rosa Elena Rangel Pantoja ran a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that manufactured hundreds of gallons of liquid methamphetamine in Georgia between October 2021 and August 2022, according to charges presented in court by U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.
Members of Rangel’s DTO transported liquid methamphetamine from Mexico to Georgia’s Northern District concealed in the gas tanks of semi-trucks. Members then pumped the liquid meth out of the trucks and cooked it into crystal methamphetamine using clandestine laboratories.
Law enforcement began investigating Rangel’s DTO in March of 2022 when the FBI was made aware of an individual purchasing suspiciously large amounts of acetone, a key component in converting liquid methamphetamine into crystal methamphetamine. The FBI believed that Rangel was supplying it to a laboratory.
In August 2022, a search warrant was executed for a methamphetamine laboratory discovered by FBI agents in Canon, Georgia. Over 250 gallons of liquid methamphetamine and almost 10 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine were seized. Members of Rangel’s DTO were found cooking the narcotic on the lower level of a barndominium where Rangel lived with her four children.
Agents found a second laboratory in Austell, Georgia in November 2022 after tracking Berzain Leal Batrez, another member of the DTO, to the Mexico border and back to Georgia. Further investigation into Rangel revealed she had been regularly communicating with someone based in Mexico to run the operation.
More liquid methamphetamine was observed being delivered to the second lab, upon which 160 gallons of liquid meth and 75 kilograms of crystal meth were later seized.
U.S. District Judge William M. Ray, II sentenced the defendants as follows:
- Rosa Rangel, 40: Sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
- Dustin Burgess, 36: Sentenced to 13 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
- Berzain Leal Batrez, 44: Sentenced to seven years, 11 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
Judge Ray is also scheduled to sentence two other defendants involved in the case – Martha Karina Rangel-Pantoja, 42, on January 13, 2025, and Uriel Plancarte Mendoza, 31, on March 21, 2025.
“Methamphetamine production and distribution continues to pose a grave threat to public safety, especially when trafficked using the large-scale and international operation utilized by the defendants in this case,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.
For more information, contact the US Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at 404-581-6016 or email USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov.
