An illegal immigrant from Mexico who previously served nearly two decades in federal prison, was indicted Tuesday after allegedly conspiring to move tens of millions of dollars in methamphetamine in the Atlanta area, leading authorities to seize nearly 1,600 pounds of the stimulant drug hidden in blackberry shipments.
Gerardo Solorio-Alvarado, 44, of Mexico, was charged with conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
He previously served 17 years in prison after being convicted of felony possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a gun in a drug trafficking crime.
His alleged accomplice, Nelson Enrique Sorto, 36, of Atlanta, was charged with possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. He is currently on probation after being convicted in 2024 of felony possession of methamphetamine.
While staking out a cold storage warehouse in Fulton County on Nov. 20, federal agents and Hall County sheriff’s deputies saw three refrigerated box trucks parked outside.
They followed one of the trucks to a gas station in Gainesville and watched as Solorio-Alvarado picked up the driver and left the abandoned box truck at the gas station, according to officials.
After a K-9 alerted officers to the odor of narcotics, agents searched the truck and recovered about 661 pounds of methamphetamine hidden among pallets of blackberries.
Solorio-Alvarado was later arrested while trying to escape out of the back of his Gainesville home, according to authorities. Inside the house, deputies found keys to the abandoned truck.
At the same time, another team of agents followed a second box truck as it traveled in tandem with an SUV, allegedly driven by Sorto, to a home in southeast Atlanta.
Shortly after midnight, Sorto left in the SUV with two passengers, and Georgia State Patrol troopers stopped them, finding two guns and several containers of blackberries in the SUV, officials said.
During a subsequent search of the box truck parked outside the Atlanta home, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, assisted by the FBI, recovered about 924 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in pallets of blackberries.
Combined, the two seizures amounted to 1,585 pounds of methamphetamine.
During a news conference Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said the two seizures amounted to 1,585 pounds of methamphetamine, worth tens of millions of dollars.
“Solorio-Alvarado was convicted in federal court for drug trafficking and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and he served nearly two decades in federal prison for those offenses. He was then, and he remains, an illegal alien, unlawfully present in the United States,” Hertzberg said.
“We’ve seen the cartels operate this way before. … We have seen massive methamphetamine seizures of drugs that were smuggled in with cucumbers, celery or jalapeño peppers. And now … blackberries.”
Both men remain in state custody but will be transferred to the U.S. Marshals Service.
After appearing in federal court, Hertzberg said his office will move for them to be held without bail until their cases have been resolved.
Solorio-Alvarado faces at least 15 years in prison because of his criminal history, and Sorto faces at least 10 years in prison. The maximum sentences are life in prison without parole.
The prosecutions are also part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”
