Case: 1:16-cr-00489 Document #: 1 Filed: 07/29/16 Page 1 of 8 PageID #:1

{O 9l (Rev. I l/l l) Criminal Complaint 353-5496

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION JUL 2 I 2016
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THOMAS G, BRUTON
CASE NUMBER: CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT
v. I]NDER SEAL

ROLANDO ESTRADA T6CR 489

CRIMINAL CSMPI,AINT MAGFTRATE JUDGE VAI,"DEZ

I, the complainant in this case, state that the following is true to the best of my knowledge
and belief.
On or about July 13, 20t6, at Elmwood Park, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern
Division, the defendant(s) violated:
Code Section Offense Description
Title 2L, United States Code, possessed with intent to manufacture, distribute
Sections 841(a) or dispense, a controlled substance

This criminal complaint is based upon these facts:

X Continued on the attached sheet.

P. MCGREAL
Force Officer, U.S. Drug Enforcement

Sworn to before me and signed in my presence.

Date: Ju,lv 29.2016

Judge's signatu

City and state: Chicaso. Illinois MARIA VALDEZ. U.S. Magistrate Judge
Printed name and Title
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

AFFIDAVIT

I, JAMES P. MCGREAL, being duly sworn, state as follows:

1. I am employed as a Sergeant with the Downers Grove Police

Department and have been so employed for the past 13 years. I am also assigned as

a Task Force Officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA"), and have

been assigned to the DEA since 201t. My current responsibilities include the

investigation of narcotics traffi cking offenses.

2. This affidavit is submitted in support of a criminal complaint alleging

that ROLANDO ESTRADA has violated Title 21, United States Code, Section
841(a). Because this affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of
establishing probable cause in support of a criminal complaint charging ESTRADA

with narcotics trafficking, I have not included each and every fact known to me

concerning this investigation. I have set forth only the facts that I believe are
necessary to establish probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the

offense alleged in the complaint

3. The statements in this affidavit are based on my personal knowledge,

and on information I have received from other law enforcement personnel and from

persons with knowledge regarding relevant facts. Because this affidavit is being

submitted for the limited purpose of supporting a criminal complaint, I have not

included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation. I have set
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forth facts that I believe are sufficient to establish probable cause to believe that the

defendant has committed violations of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a).

FACTS SUPPORTING PROBABLE CAUSE

4. The DEA and FBI are investigating allegations that ROLANDO

ESTRADA and known and unknown others are members of a Drug Trafficking

Organization ("DTO") that is engaged in large scale narcotics distribution, including

heroin and cocaine, and money-laundering offenses in Chicago and the surrounding

Chicagoland area.

A. Information Obtained from Cooperating Defendant # 2 ("CD-z")

5. Between May 2Ol4 and May 2016, LEOs interviewed CD-2 on multiple

occasions.r CD-2 provided information regarding CD-2's involvement with a Drug

Trafficking Organization ("DTO") that is engaged in large scale narcotics

distribution, including heroin and cocaine, and money-laundering offenses in

Chicago and the surrounding Chicagoland area. CD-2 provided information

regarding the DTO's organization and operations, its members, and its customers.

6. In November 2015, CD-2 identified Rolando ESTRADA as multi-

hundred gram heroin dealer, based in Chicago.

I CD-z cooperated with the hopes that he would receive a benefit during
sentencing in his state narcotics case in the Circuit Court of DuPage County,
though LEOs made no promises concerning those charges. CD-2's information has
proven reliable and credible, and has been corroborated by independent
investigation that thus far includes physical surveillance conducted by law
enforcement officers and other Cooperating Sources/Defendants. CD-2 has prior
convictions for reckless driving, fleeing the police, and possession of cannabis. On
May 3, 2OL6, CD-2 was sentenced to eight years'imprisonment in his state narcotics
case in the Circuit Court of DuPage County. The sentencing judge was apprised of
CD-2's cooperation at the time of sentencing.

2
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B. ESTRADA^'S Laek of Employment and Suspicious Bank Activity

7. According to bank records, from at least January 2016 through April

2016, ESTRADA made four wire transfers totaling $33,500 from his personal bank

account to a Chinese chemical company ("Company A"). Company A is known to

law enforcement to have shipped controlled substances and controlled substance

analogues to individuals throughout the United States. ESTRADA's bank records

also show significant activity involving multiple cash deposits, often occurring on

the same day, and cash withdrawals within a short amount of time.

8. In 2016, the Illinois Department of Employment Security confirmed

ESTRADA had no earnings from employment recorded for the past several years.

LEOs were unable to identifu any legitimate employment directly or indirectly

associated with ESTRADA.

C. June 22, 2Ot6, Seizure of Two Packages from Company A

Identified As Furanyl Fentanyl
9. On or about June 22,2016, LEOs identified two packages shipped from

Company A to known associates of ESTRADA. LEO's identifred these packages as

associated with ESTRADA by the recipient phone numbers listed on the packages.

Historically, ESTRADA has utilized nominee names of those closely related to

ESTRADA, including close friends, for shipments from Company A. The phone

number listed for the recipient on the first of the two packages from Company A

seized on June 22,2016, was identifred in a2015 Elmwood Park Police Department

report as one that ESTRADA provided to law enforcement as his phone number.

3
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The phone number appearing on the second package seized on June 22, 2016, is

ESTRADA's personal cellular phone which is subscribed to his name.

10. LEOs coordinated with Customs and Border Protection in identiSring

and seizing the two packages arriving from China. Both packages were sent to

secondary inspection and a sample of the product was taken. The initial field test

was inconclusive and the packages were sent to a CBP Crime Lab in Houston,

Texas. On July 5, 20L6, the CBP Crime Lab confirmed the substances in both
packages as Furanyl Fentanyl (Fu-fl, a substance on the DEA schedule of controlled

substance analogues. The first package contained approximately 2.8 kilograms of

Furanyl Fentanyl. The second package contacted approximately 2.75 L<tlograms of

Furanyl Fentanyl.

D. July 13, 2016, Arrest of ESTRADA and Consent Search at 2147

North 75th Court, Elmwood Park, tllinois
11. On July L3,2016, LEOs established surveillance on ESTRADA at 2147

North 75th Court, Elmwood Park, Illinois. While conducting the surveillance, LEOs

knew ESTRADA to have a revoked driver's license and that he was on bond for an

Aggravated Driving While License Revoked charge, such that any future driving

offenses would be considered a felony Aggravated Driving While License Revoked

offense in the State of Illinois.

t2. At approximately 12:30 p.ffi., LEOs obserwed ESTRADA exit 2147

North 75th Court and place a backpack in the back seat of a 2014 Mercedes Benz

SIJV, bearing Illinois Registration Q435501. The Mercedes Benz is registered in

the name of a friend and associate of ESTRADA. ESTRADA entered the driver's
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seat and drove away eastbound from the residence on a public roadway. LEOs

stopped the vehicle approximately one block away from the residence, and

ESTRADA was placed into custody for Aggravated Driving While License Revoked.

t-3. ESTRADA was informed of his Miranda rights and agreed to speak

with LEOs. ESTRADA was informed of LEOs' long-term investigation. ESTRA,DA

stated there was approximately six kilograms of cocaine and $90,000 United States

Curuency in the bedroom closet inside 2L47 North 75th Court, Elmwood Park,
Illinois. ESTRADA also advised LEOs that there was a pill press located inside the

garage of the residence. ESTRADA signed a written Consent to Search Form for

ESTRADA's 2147 North 75th Court, Elmwood Park, Illinois residence, the 20L4

Mercedes Benz SLry and ESTRADA's cellular phone.

14. LEOs conducted a consent search of 2L47 N. 75th Court, Elmwood

Park, Illinois. LEOs seized approximately six kilograms of substance appearing to

be cocaine in the bedroom closet where ESTRADA had previously informed LEOs it
would be found. The substance was not field tested due to concerns of the potential

presence of Furanyl Fentanyl and the potential dangers associated with skin
absorption of this substance, but was subsequently tested at a DEA laboratory and

confirmed to be cocaine. LEOs also located the $SO,OOO in bulk currency in the
bedroom closet and the pill press in the garage.

E. Interview of ESTRADA on July 13, 2016

15. On July 13, 2016, LEO's transported ESTRADA to the Berwyn Police
Department to conduct a post-arrest interview and processing. ESTRADA was
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placed in a recorded interview room adjacent to the Berwyn Police Department

Investigations Unit. ESTRADA was again informed of his Miranda rights and

signed a written Miranda waiver. ESTRADA waived his rights and agreed to speak

with LEOs without an attorney. The interview lasted approximately ninety

minutes and was recorded with audio and video.

16. ESTRADA confirmed that he was unemployed and had no legitimate

source of income. ESTRADA stated he has engaged in narcotics trafficking most of

his life.

17. ESTRADA said he received a total of over twenty-five kilograms of

cocaine from California to Illinois through the mail. These packages would be sent

in packages of one kilogram of cocaine mostly through the United States Postal

Service. On July lL, 2016, LEOs had identified a suspicious U.S. Express Mail

package was in transit to Chicago, Illinois from Los Angeles, California. The

package was being sent to an address in Chicago that LEOs believed ESTRADA
was using to receive packages containing controlled substance. LEOs described this

package to ESTRADA during his interview with law enforcement on July 13,2016.

ESTRADA confirmed that he had been awaiting the arrival of this package, and

stated that he expected it to contain approximately one kilogram of cocaine.2

2 On July 14, 2016, LEOs, in coordination with the United States Postal Inspection Service,
interdicted the package that had been in transit from Los Angeles, California to Chicago,
Illinois, and that ESTRADA had identified as containing approximately one kilogram of
cocaine. On July 14, 20L6, LEOs obtained a warrant from Magistrate Judge Michael T.
Mason to search the package. Consistent with ESTRADA'S statement to law enforcement,
the package contained approximately 1,015 g:rams of a white substance that field tested
positive for cocaine.
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18. ESTRADA further admitted to wiring funds to Company A and

importing controlled substances from China to distribute in Chicago. ESTRADA

admitted to ordering the two shipments from Company A that LEOs identified and

interdicted on June 22, 20L6, and which the CBP Crime Lab confrrmed as

containing Furanyl Fentanyl.

19. On July 14, 20L6, law enforcement was unable to reach or locate

ESTRADA. LEOs contacted Customs and Border Patrol and learned that
ESTRADA had left the United States on a flight from Chicago to Mexico City that

day. Law enforcement has not been in contact with ESTRADA since he left the
United States.

P.

Agency

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me on JaIy 29,2016.

MARIA VALDEZ
United States Magistrate Judge