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An FBI investigation into an alleged drug and gun trafficking conspiracy, with significant activity at Haymarket’s Rancho Los Cerritos farm, culminated in Wednesday’s raid on the property and several arrests, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
The affidavit names several suspects arrested starting Wednesday morning, including Jorge Steve Zepeda Irias, Jorge Manuel Romero, Oscar Raquel Cuellar Macua, Evelyn Esmeralda Villatoro and Oscar Vladimir Padilla Portillo.
Cuellar, Villatoro and Portillo are accused of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. It was unclear Thursday night what charges Zepeda and Romero face, but both are accused in the affidavit of selling cocaine.
The investigation, spanning from July 2024 to this month, centered on Zepeda, who the FBI alleges served as the main seller of the illegal goods. The affidavit states he sold numerous firearms, including pistols, rifles and a shotgun, as well as cocaine and fentanyl to a confidential source.
At one point, he reportedly claimed to have previously sold five guns a week to MS-13 gang members, according to the criminal complaint.
The affidavit detailed several controlled buys that took place in both Virginia and D.C., including buys made at the ranch involving Zepeda and other individuals at the property, including a person who lived in a house there and the ranch owner. During one exchange, Zepeda mentioned owning an M60 machine gun, the complaint said.
The investigation also included controlled purchases of half a kilogram and later a full kilogram of cocaine arranged in the D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, where suspect Oscar Raquel Cuellar Macua facilitated the deals, one at the old gas station lot at 3601 M St., N.W., site of the famed staircase from the 1973 film “The Exorcist,” the affidavit said.
The “final takedown” began Wednesday with Romero’s arrest while attempting to leave the United States for El Salvador, the complaint said. Zepeda, Cuellar and Villatoro were then arrested in D.C. during a final controlled purchase of approximately four kilograms of cocaine, the affidavit said.
During the arrests, Portillo, driving a second car also involved in the drug transaction, allegedly rammed an FBI vehicle while attempting to escape the scene but was later apprehended, the complaint said.
Agents recovered approximately four kilograms of cocaine from Zepeda’s vehicle after the arrests.
The FBI activity at Cerritos Ranch began late Wednesday afternoon and continued through the day Thursday, with residents and commuters reporting agents searching fields, heavy equipment brought in and police divers near a pond.
The FBI has not publicly commented and turned away an InsideNoVa reporter from the scene Thursday, with an agent saying “this is a secured scene” and “you can’t be here.”
