Texas Border Business
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas
LAREDO, Texas – A 38-year-old Laredo resident has been sentenced for smuggling methamphetamine into the United States. Jose Pascual Soliz pleaded guilty May 16.
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison has now ordered Soliz to serve 240 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court considered how Soliz worked for Cartel De Noreste to smuggle methamphetamine into the country and recruited others such as Carla Miranda Aleman to carry out the crime. He admitted doing so on at least six to eight occasions. This was his third felony conviction and second for narcotics trafficking.
The court also heard Soliz was known to recruit young woman such as Aleman to transport drugs and had used his minor daughter to recruit Aleman in this case.
Aleman, 20, was previously sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for role to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.
On April 19, 2023, authorities seized more than 11.85 kilograms of methamphetamine from Soliz and Aleman. The drugs represented what remained of a larger amount Soliz had removed from a vehicle’s gas tank after the drugs had already been smuggled into the United States. The rest had already been distributed.
Authorities located the methamphetamine after the vehicle was undergoing repairs due to damage concealing the drugs had caused. The investigation revealed Aleman and Soliz used this vehicle to smuggle the methamphetamine into the United States.
Soliz will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
FBI conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.
Updated July 24, 2025
