Twice-Deported Man Charged in Georgia After About 440 Pounds of Methamphetamine Found in Van
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced on November 10 that Gerardo Miranda Mendoza, 57, appeared in federal court on November 9 on charges of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute and illegal reentry by a previously removed alien. Officers had seized the van he was driving in Conyers, Georgia, where they found about 440 pounds of methamphetamine. Mendoza, of Morelia, Mexico, had twice been convicted of drug trafficking and twice removed from the United States. He was ordered detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service without bail.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said that despite two prior drug trafficking convictions and subsequent deportations, Mendoza allegedly returned illegally and attempted to traffic a massive amount of methamphetamine. He said that thanks to the Homeland Security Task Force, nearly a quarter-ton of deadly methamphetamine was taken off the street and Mendoza now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in federal prison.
According to information presented in court, on November 7, 2026, investigators watched Mendoza and another individual arrive in separate vehicles at a store parking lot in Stonecrest, Georgia. After Mendoza went inside the store, the other man drove Mendoza's van to a warehouse in Conyers, loaded trash bags into the vehicle, returned to the parking lot and left. Mendoza then got back into the van and drove away, and a Georgia State Patrol trooper stopped him shortly afterward for a traffic violation. A search of the van found numerous trash bags containing a total of about 440 pounds of methamphetamine.
The investigation also showed that Mendoza has a 2009 federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute crystal methamphetamine and a 1998 California state conviction for transporting controlled substances. He was deported following each conviction, most recently in November 2017.
The case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Georgia State Patrol, as part of the Homeland Security Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Drew Waldbeser is prosecuting the case. Prosecutors noted that a criminal complaint contains only charges and that Mendoza is presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Atlanta 的佐治亚州议会大厦（资料图）。本案由美国联邦检察官办公室（佐治亚北区）公布。照片：Ken Lund，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta (file photo). The case was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia. Photo by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
