Progreso businessman pleads not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A businessman from Progreso pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges Tuesday.

Pedro Luis Lopez, 55, of Progreso is charged with participating in a conspiracy that involved 194 pounds of cocaine.

“Not guilty, your honor,” Lopez said on Tuesday morning, when he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker for arraignment.

Lopez is well known in Progreso, where his family owns the 1015 Grocery Store, the El Dorado Event Center and commercial transportation businesses.

“He’s a very straight man. He’s loved by everyone. He does a lot for the community, I can tell you that,” said Dago Treviño, 45, of Progreso, a dispatcher for PLL Logistics, a company owned by the Lopez family.

Treviño started working for Lopez about three years ago.

“I’m pretty sure anybody you’re going to talk to around the town, they’re going to say the same thing,” Treviño said. “Because that’s what he is. That’s the kind of person he is.”

Lopez is also well known to law enforcement.

In November 2013, the Texas Department of Public Safety caught Lopez smuggling about 1,100 pounds of marijuana through Progreso.

Lopez pleaded guilty but received deferred adjudication, which allowed him to avoid a felony conviction.

The Department of Public Safety linked Lopez to another marijuana shipment in August 2016.

“In 2016, a vehicle registered to LOPEZ, PEDRO was observed meeting with two males in a truck tractor,” according to an affidavit filed in a civil forfeiture case. “The truck tractor was subsequently observed traveling to LOPEZ’ property in Progreso, Texas and loading 686 pounds of marijuana.”

Lopez wasn’t arrested or charged with any crime.

In April 2018, a state trooper stopped Lopez for speeding in Weslaco.

Lopez was carrying about $8,000 in cash and several mysterious ledgers.

“Ledgers kept in this manner are also common practice bookkeeping habits for narcotics transactions,” according to the affidavit. “The ledgers contained only numbers and no other information indicating what this (sic) figures may represent.”

Lopez was charged with money laundering, but prosecutors dropped the case because the Department of Public Safety couldn’t actually prove he laundered the cash.

In October 2018, nearly six months after the traffic stop, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed a civil forfeiture case against property Lopez owned near the Progreso bridge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said a person convicted in a drug trafficking case had known Lopez for seven or eight years. That person, who isn’t named in court documents, cooperated with the government.

“The Cooperator stated he was directly involved with Lopez in the movement of approximately 6,000 to 7,000 pounds of marijuana over three years,” according to a motion filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Lopez struck a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2020.

The government seized his property, but Lopez received 25% of the proceeds when the government sold it.

Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Lopez on Thursday morning.

Lopez is charged with participating in a conspiracy that involved 194 pounds of cocaine.

Along with Lopez, the DEA arrested his brother, Jose Gabriel Lopez-Garcia, and Daniel Sanchez-Benavidez, who is related to the Lopez family.

They pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they face 10 years to life in federal prison.