Feds: Chavez a drug kingpin
Cancun's owner also charged with harboring illegal aliens
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Cancun's restaurant is closed as details about the investigation were released in a 145-page affidavit.

The owner of a local Mexican eatery is accused of providing residents more than just a place to devour burritos. After an extensive investigation that lasted almost an entire year, the owner of Cancun's Mexican Grill in Gulf Breeze will face federal charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and harboring illegal aliens.

Rogelio Galvan Chavez, 35, and eight others appeared in federal court Tuesday, Dec. 4 after federal agents raided three restaurants and four undisclosed residences Monday, Dec. 3. Eyewitnesses and neighbors said Chavez' personal residence on Great Oaks Drive was one of the targeted residences. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Goldberg, a total of 25 people were arrested in the raids, 15 of which will be deported, one was arrested on a separate warrant and nine will face prosecution for federal charges. Of the nine that appeared in federal court, prosecutors said Chavez was the only one residing in the Unites States legally.

Agents from the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FBI and U.S. Marshals Service raided Cancun's locations in Gulf Breeze and Navarre in addition to 7 Mares Mexican Restaurant in Pensacola.

Evidence supporting the raids and arrests was detailed in a 145- page affidavit that implicates Chavez as being the kingpin of a local drug ring. According to the document, Chavez and his associates procured narcotics from Atlanta or Birmingham, Ala. and distributed them in Northwest Florida. The document also states informants cooperating with police were able to obtain fraudulent social security cards and guns through Chavez' associates.

Chavez, Cesar Maldonado- Bazquez, 28; Alejandro Hatem- Hernandez, 28; Antioco Cabrera- Esquival, 34 and Jesus Rodriguez- Orosco, 34, face charges of conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine and methamphetamine. Chavez faces an additional charge of harboring illegal aliens. Rodriguez-Orosco, Hatem- Hernandez, and Miguel Angel- Gamez, 38, face charges of committing illegal re-entry to the United States after being denied admission or being deported. José Louis Martinez-Alvarez, 30, and Fernando Alcazar-Carmona, 26, faced charges of possessing fraudulent immigration documents and Jose Louis Vieyra- Camarillo, 30, was arrested for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. Goldberg said it is the government's intention to seize the Gulf Breeze Cancun's property if Chavez is convicted. The restaurant remains closed in the mean time.

Investigators say they were able to organize several illegal transactions between informants, Hatem-Hernandez and Jesus Rodriguez-Orosco.

In one incident, the affidavit states an undercover informant met with Hatem-Hernandez at Cancun's in Gulf Breeze to discuss the purchase of several fake social security cards. The informant was able to buy four fraudulent social security cards for $260, which were then turned over to authorities. Hatem- Hernandez, who according to ICE records was deported in 2000, said the cards were produced in Atlanta, the affidavit states.

Hatem-Hernandez and the undercover informant were also asked by Rodriguez-Orosco to transport cocaine and marijuana from Atlanta, Ga. for Chavez, whom they referred to as "the boss" and "the guy from Gulf Breeze." Investigators say the informant and Hatem- Hernandez were offered $2,000 by Chavez to be couriers.

In the investigation, Rodriguez-Orosco was identified as a "trusted criminal associate" of Chavez that transported cocaine from Atlanta to Gulf Breeze. Rodriguez-Orosco, who was deported in 1995 under the alias "Jesus Reyes," was also responsible for selling the drugs in the area. According to the affidavit, Rodriguez-Orosco sold the police informant 27.8 grams of cocaine for $1,100 on June 15. On June 20, investigators say Rodriguez-Orosco sold the same informant 55.2 grams of methamphetamine for $2,300. Both transactions took place in the parking lot of the Gulf Breeze bait shop not far from Cancun's.

According to the legal documents, Hatem-Hernandez explained to the informant that Chavez told him that if some small "deals go okay" then the informant and Hernandez could travel to Atlanta or Birmingham, Ala. to "do a bigger deal."

According to the affidavit, Hatem-Hernandez, who worked at Cancun's in Gulf Breeze and Los Rancheros in Pensacola, told the informant that Chavez "does not deal in ounce quantities but would sell [the informant] and Hatem-Hernandez a kilogram of cocaine."

Investigators say drug dealers working for Chavez regularly met to play volleyball behind Mares 7 Mexican restaurant in Pensacola.

In another incident, investigators say Hatem-Hernandez purchased methamphetamine that was disguised as a take out order from an employee at Mares 7. According to the affidavit, Hatem-Hernandez told the informant that he ordered chips and salsa to go from a man he called "Beto," later identified as Cesar Maldonado-Bazquez. Inside the to go bag was chips, salsa and a cup containing $1,100 worth of methamphetamine.

On two different occasions, Rodriguez-Orosco and Hatem- Hernandez each sold the unnamed informant a handgun. Hetem-Hernandez told the informant that the .38 caliber he was selling him came from Chavez.

Investigators say another informant working out of Atlanta met Chavez and attempted to purchase 100 kilograms of cocaine and 100 pounds of methamphetamine from the restaurant owner. Chavez eventually backed out of the deal because he suspected he was dealing with an informant. The informant told DEA agents that Chavez also sold firearms and that he believed he "could purchase any type of firearm that [he] desired from Galvan Chavez."

According to investigators, Chavez was also said to have an acquaintance in Atlanta who was a part of a violent, unnamed criminal organization based in Mexico.

Chavez and the others facing federal charges will be incarcerated until the end of their trial, prosecutors said.