The conclusion of five drug prosecutions associated with significant cocaine distribution near Jackson, Wyoming, and the surrounding communities, prompted the U.S. Attorney’s office and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday to tout the interagency cooperation by which the operation unfolded.
“I am pleased to announce that state, local and federal law enforcement have successfully taken down a drug ring that links – that has links to a Mexican cartel, in northwest Wyoming,” said U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith in a Friday press conference in Cheyenne, which Cowboy State Daily attended via virtual link.
The press conference followed the most recent sentencing in a years-long case marked with older and newer sentencings – and a controversy that erupted during the legislative session over whether Wyoming should pass a bill penalizing local police for helping federal agents enforce federal gun laws.
President Donald Trump’s acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cast the proposed bill as an oversimplification that would interfere with important police work; the gun lobby called it an important effort to uphold the Second Amendment – and Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed it March 10.
Smith did not opine on the bill during his Friday press conference.
He repeatedly emphasized, however, federal, state and local police partnerships in the case of five convicted cocaine operatives working near Jackson, Wyoming.
“And we cannot stress this enough, this only took place – this was only able to happen – because of the partnerships… between state, local and federal law enforcement,” said Smith, later adding, “That’s really the message here, is that this cooperation works; we take the bad guys off the streets.”
He said cartels are responsible for bringing in most of the drug traffic detected in the U.S.
The drug ring operation Smith discussed unfolded via collaboration between the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Teton County Sheriff’s Office of Idaho, the Idaho State Police, and U.S. Postal Service Inspection, he said.
Smith also called his office’s Assistant U.S. Attorney Z. Seth Griswold a “rock star” and credited him with prosecuting the five cases.
Griswold worked prior as a local state prosecutor based out of Lander, as a Fremont County deputy attorney, before joining the federal prosecutor’s office.
Smith concluded by noting that parole has been abolished by federal crimes but remains available on most state criminal sentences.
The federal system instead dictates “supervised release” terms to follow prison sentences.
A federal judge can sentence a “career violent criminal” to between 15 years and life for being a felon in possession of a weapon, emphasized Smith.
Cocaine Ring, Jackson Area
The northwestern Wyoming cocaine ring investigation started in November 2023 in the Jackson area, Smith noted.
Agents learned five people “were responsible for trafficking huge amounts of cocaine from Phoenix, Arizona, to Lincoln and Teton counties in Wyoming, as well as two counties in Idaho,” said Smith. The drug ring was responsible for about 22 pounds of cocaine from November 2023 to April 2025, “and that’s just what we caught them with,” he said.
The three-year investigation concluded earlier this month when the fifth of five defendants was sentenced, he said.
That most recent sentencing was March 6, in the case of Jose Junior Ramos, whose alias "Postre" translates to "dessert."
Three of the five defendants were illegal aliens and two were U.S. citizens, Smith added.
The Illegal Aliens
Smith listed Cesar Torres-Cazares, 36, as an illegal alien from Mexico who sold drugs to undercover agents, which led them to his home where they found large quantities of cocaine and proof of drug distribution.
That’s one of the older cases in this investigation: Torres-Cazares was sentenced on a cocaine conviction last March, to 24 months in prison with deportation to follow.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation started investigating Torres-Cazares in 2023, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) became involved after that. Court documents say Torres-Cazares was arrested Jan. 23, 2024, by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office for drug delivery or possession with intent to deliver, and his fingerprints showed him as a non-citizen.
The other illegal alien, said Smith, was Oneil Anthony Findley, 29, of Jamaica.
Findley was sentenced last April after a jury convicted him Dec. 11, 2024, of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine, using a communication facility to facilitate a drug offense, and drug conspiracy.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service learned cocaine was being shipped to the area and intercepted a package that contained more than a pound of cocaine, headed for Findley’s post office box under a fictitious name, says an earlier U.S. Attorney’s Office press release on Findley’s conviction.
Findley was communicating with another Jamaican transplant, Marlon Forrest, whom court documents call his supplier.
Forrest, a Jackson-area cocaine kingpin, was sentenced last year to more than six years in prison, Cowboy State Daily reported at the time.
Findley was sentenced last April to five years and eight months in prison. Both Findley and Forrest are slated for deportation after prison, Smith said.
Two U.S. Citizens
The two U.S. citizens in the area drug ring, said Smith, were Saul Andrew Garcia, 26, and Jose Junior Ramos, 32; both of Irwin, Idaho.
He said they were stopped while driving back to Wyoming from Arizona last April, and investigators found 6.6 pounds of cocaine in their vehicle, then more than a dozen firearms and “bulk cash” in their home.
Garcia was sentenced Jan. 15 of this year, to 10 years in prison on cocaine charges plus five years supervised release.
Ramos was sentenced March 6, to eight years in prison plus five years’ supervised release on cocaine charges.
“These guys were in contact with a cartel in Mexico, who has – who was then providing multi-kilos and poundage of cocaine to distribute in Wyoming and through these defendants mentioned and others in Teton County, Wyoming,” said Smith.
The DEA Speaks
DEA special agent in charge, Dave Olesky, also addressed the public during the Friday press conference.
“Traffickers can seamlessly cross state lines,” said Olesky, “moving their poison from one thing to another, motivated by the one thing that drives all traffickers and cartels: greed.”
Olesky said “strong partnerships at the local, state and federal level” are the best way to address those operations.
He said fentanyl is the no. 1 drug threat the nation has seen, but “the reality is that cocaine has never gone away.”
DCI Director Ronnie Jones stood near Smith and Olesky, but did not make a speech.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
