PROGRESO, Texas (Valley Central) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested three people in Progreso on Thursday, including a well-known businessman with a checkered past.
Pedro Ruiz Lopez, 55, of Progreso, is charged with participating in a conspiracy involving 194 pounds of cocaine.
“I thought he was just a business owner, like me,” City Councilman Raul Martinez said.
Martinez said his store, Tortilleria Nvo Progreso, sells tortillas to Lopez’s store, 1015 Grocery Store.
“It’s been a tough day,” Martinez said.
Lopez is well known in Progreso, and many believe he is the owner of 1015 Grocery Store.
However, documents filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s office list Lopez’s son, Pedro Jr., as a managing member of 1015 Grocery Store LLC. Lopez’s name is not listed on the documents.
“Here in Progreso, everyone says it’s his,” Martinez said, “so I thought it was his too.”
It’s unclear exactly how Lopez made his money.
He founded R/C Trading LLC, which has a Mercedes address, in 2004, according to documents filed with the Secretary of State’s office.
Hidalgo County jail records list R/C Trading as Lopez’s employer and “grain export” as his occupation.
In 2019, lawyers representing Lopez in a civil lawsuit filed a motion seeking to explain why he was carrying such large amounts of cash.
According to the complaint, Lopez operated a “warehousing business” with gross revenues of more than $5 million and a “very successful” convenience store chain.
But Lopez also had some run-ins with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
In 2013, Department of Public Safety investigators tracked a suspicious tractor-trailer from a hotel in Donna to a warehouse in Progreso.
According to a report prepared by the Department of Public Safety, Lopez and the truck driver left the warehouse together.
State police stopped the truck driver on Farm to Market Road 1015. A search of the tractor-trailer revealed approximately 1,100 pounds of marijuana hidden amongst a shipment of blackberries.
Investigators questioned Lopez about the marijuana.
“Lopez, who also owns the warehouse where the marijuana was seized, was interviewed, made a full confession, and indicated his intention to provide further information at a later date,” according to the report.
Lopez pleaded guilty to marijuana possession but received a deferred hearing and avoided a felony conviction.
The Department of Public Safety has linked Lopez to another marijuana smuggling operation in 2016.
According to an affidavit filed in the civil forfeiture lawsuit, a vehicle registered to Lopez “was observed meeting two males in a truck tractor. The truck tractor was then observed traveling to Lopez’s property in Progreso, Texas, where it was loaded with 686 pounds of marijuana.”
Lopez has not been arrested or charged with any crime.
In 2018, police found Lopez again.
During a traffic stop, state troopers found approximately $8,000 and several handwritten ledgers in Lopez’s truck.
“These types of records are consistent with common drug trafficking bookkeeping practices,” the affidavit states. “The records contained only numbers and no other information to indicate what the numbers represented.”
Lopez was charged with money laundering.
The case was dropped less than a year later because prosecutors could not prove that Lopez had actually laundered money.
Lopez has also become a prominent figure in local politics.
After Mayor Progreso resigned in April, Martinez decided to run for mayor, and Lopez became one of his biggest supporters.
Lopez allowed Martinez to use 1015 Grocery Store as a campaign giveaway location and sat with Martinez’s team at the polling place for hours.
“He obviously runs a store and showed up with food and supplies for camping,” said Melba Rodriguez, 65, a resident of Progresso.
Rodriguez, who is supporting another candidate in the mayoral race, Hugo Gamboa, questioned why Lopez was spending so much time at the polls.
“It seems like he has a lot of interest in this race,” Rodriguez said, “and it made me wonder why.”
Martinez said he was not aware of Lopez’s criminal history.
“My mom just called me and she was like, ‘What’s going on? What happened? He was with you,'” Martinez recalled the conversation. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I know, mom. I didn’t know.’ It was a surprise to me, too.”
The DEA arrested Lopez Thursday morning after a grand jury indicted him on federal drug trafficking charges.
At least two other people, Jose Gabriel Lopez Garcia and Daniel Sanchez Benavides, also allegedly participated in the conspiracy.
According to the indictment, on Nov. 13, 2022, they possessed 194 pounds of cocaine with the intent to sell, but the indictment does not provide any details about the conspiracy or what each person did.
If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
The case against Lopez may be linked to drug trafficking cases against former Progreso Mayor Gerardo “Jerry” Alanis and his brother, former Progreso School Board Chairman Francisco “Frank” Alanis.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra Andrade of Brownsville is handling both cases.
Lopez remained in custody Thursday and could not be reached for comment.
McAllen attorney Javier Villalobos, who represented Lopez in the marijuana and money laundering cases, said he plans to speak with Lopez’s family.
Court records did not list attorneys for the other two defendants, who remain in custody.
They are scheduled to appear before a judge Friday morning.
