Governments want to seize $1 million Brownsville mansion from drug smuggler’s wife

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The federal government wants to seize a $1 million Brownsville mansion from a drug smuggler’s wife.

Juan De Dios Gomez Gonzalez smuggled thousands of pounds of cocaine through Brownsville, according to a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas on Monday.

Gomez and his wife purchased the mansion in 2013, according to a deed filed with the Cameron County Clerk’s Office. They paid $330,000.

Located on the 300 block of West Cowan Terrace, the six-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion features a large pool, a two-story casita and a deck overlooking the nearby resaca.

The mansion, which sits on a 1-acre lot, is worth about $1 million, according to information published by the Cameron County Appraisal District.

Gomez began smuggling cocaine from Matamoros to Brownsville in 2009, according to the lawsuit.

Smugglers would transport cocaine across the border in tractor-trailers and passenger cars. From stash houses in Brownsville, the drugs would be distributed to buyers in California, Nevada, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida.

They sent back millions in cash.

Gomez laundered the money through a hotel in Matamoros, which served as a quasi-headquarters for the drug trafficking organization.

He also purchased a car lot in Matamoros, “which was used as a location to store and transfer drugs being sent into the United States and as a storage location and receipt point for bulk cash obtained from the sale of drugs,” according to the lawsuit.

In 2011, he started a company, Palmas Construction & Design, in Brownsville.

Documents filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office in July 2011 listed Gomez as one of two managing members.

Gomez “originally entered the United States as a B1/B2 visa holder with no legal status to reside and work in the United States,” according to the lawsuit.

In 2012, a year after he created Palmas construction, Gomez received an E-2 visa.

The visa allows people “to be admitted to the United States when investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business,” according to information published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Gomez funded Palmas Construction with drug money, according to the lawsuit, and laundered cash through the business.

Palmas Construction couldn’t be reached for comment at a phone number listed in public records.

Gomez slipped back across the border in 2015, when he became aware the United States government was investigating him, according to the lawsuit.

Problems with the Gulf Cartel, though, forced Gomez to leave Matamoros. At some point, he moved to Guadalajara.

A grand jury indicted Gomez on drug trafficking and money laundering charges, according to the lawsuit, but he was never arrested.

Gomez died in a shootout during September 2023. The lawsuit doesn’t provide any details about his death.

Court records don’t list a lawyer for Gomez’s wife, Maria Guadalupe Ramos Castro, who hasn’t been arrested or charged with any crime.

A man who answered the door at her home on Tuesday said he was just a tenant and didn’t know anything about the lawsuit.