A Tarrant County jury has sentenced 33-year-old Virginia Alcaraz to 16 years in prison after finding her guilty of trying to smuggle roughly six pounds of cocaine through Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on her way to Sydney, Australia. Alcaraz was arrested at DFW on March 29, 2025, after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered several flat black plastic bundles of cocaine packed inside her black duffel bag.
According to a Tarrant County DA post announcing the verdict, Alcaraz was convicted of manufacture or delivery of 400 grams or more of a controlled substance, and the case was prosecuted by the Tarrant County DA Narcotics Unit with assistance from the DFW Airport Department of Public Safety. The office thanked both the airport police and Customs and Border Protection for their work on the case.
Under Texas Health and Safety Code § 481.112, manufacturing or delivering 400 grams or more of a Penalty Group 1 substance like cocaine is an enhanced first-degree felony, according to FindLaw, carrying a punishment range of 15 to 99 years or life in prison along with a fine of up to $250,000. Alcaraz’s 16-year sentence falls near the low end of that statutory range.
A Narcotics Unit Built for Cases Like This
The prosecution came out of a specialized DA Narcotics Unit that Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells created in November 2023 specifically to target high-level drug distributors and pursue maximum statutory penalties for offenses involving cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, per Community Impact. The office fields roughly 8,500 drug cases a year, the outlet reports, a volume that pushed county leadership to concentrate resources on the biggest traffickers rather than spread thin across every case…