By Dan Sullivan | Tampa Bay Times
There was nothing amid the sky-high stacks of wooden pallets to indicate criminal activity in the industrial lot on Turkey Creek Road.
In fact, in a Spanish-language TV commercial, a young woman standing before the stacks touts Velazquez Pallets as a family-owned business — the affordable place for all your pallet needs.
"We'll buy your pallets and we'll sell at a good price," she says.
But authorities say there was another product being sold at the Plant City business.
In a federal plea agreement filed last week, a 20-year-old Plant City man admitted the business was a front for a Mexican cocaine distribution organization.
Alexandro Velasquez acted as an accountant for the group, which was led by his uncle, Saul Velasquez-Bazan, according to court documents. When authorities arrested them and two other men in August, they estimated the drug business had brought in more than $2 million over a four-month period, the plea agreement states.
"It's a significant amount. There's no question about it," said Gregory D. Lee, a retired supervisory special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "It shows they were significant players."
Authorities believe the group supplied between 20 and 50 kilograms of cocaine a month to local distributors, selling kilos for $32,000 to $34,000 each. Alexandro Velasquez, the plea agreement states, helped keep track of the money and arranged for funds to be sent back to Mexico to pay their suppliers.
It is unclear how authorities became aware of the group. But a criminal complaint filed in a separate case against Velasquez' uncle and two other men details a painstaking undercover operation.
Authorities began watching Velasquez Pallets, at 1107 Turkey Creek Road, in January. But the investigation took a turn in April at a Hooter's restaurant in Lakeland. It was there that two Hillsborough sheriff's detectives, one who was also a task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations, struck up a conversation with Saul Velasquez-Bazan and another man, Aaron Garcia. During the talk, Velasquez-Bazan and Garcia admitted selling cocaine and talked about how lucrative such business was in Florida, according to the complaint.
One of the undercover detectives traded phone numbers with the two men. In the weeks that followed, the detective and Garcia met several times, trading large sums of cash for cocaine, the complaint states.
In May, agents watched as a semi-trailer pulled into the pallet business. They saw Alexandro Velasquez hand two white plastic garbage bags to the driver, who then drove away. Law enforcement stopped the truck and, during a search, found close to $400,000 in cash in the plastic bags. The money was heading to Mexico, the plea agreement states.
The same month, Garcia recruited an undercover Homeland Security agent for a series of long-distance drives, according to the criminal complaint in his case. The agent was told he would be taking cash to the Mexican city of Matamoros, located on the border with Texas. On the way back, he would pick up kilos of narcotics — which Garcia referred to as "munecas," Spanish for "dolls" — in Houston and drive them to Plant City, the complaint states.
A fourth man, Joseph Rumore, also came under surveillance. In July, investigators watched him meet with Velasquez-Bazan and Alexandro Velasquez in the parking lot of a Dollar General store at U.S. 301 and Fowler Avenue in Tampa.
Velasquez collected $70,000 from Rumore, according to the plea agreement.
It all came to an end in August, when all four men were arrested. Authorities found $81,000 in cash in a car driven by Velasquez and his uncle. Both men remain in jail without bail.
Alexandro Velasquez' attorney, Michael Giasi, said his client was raised and went to school in Hillsborough County. He lived with his uncle on a quiet street near the pallet business.
A hearing is scheduled in the case for Jan. 4. Sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
"There likely will be a prison sentence," Giasi said.
The case against Velasquez-Bazan, Garcia and Rumore is pending.
Times staff writer Laura C. Morel contributed to this report. Contact Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3386. Follow @TimesDan.