March 1, 2026 – Tampa, Florida – Jacob Paul Arjona (32, Bakersfield, CA) has been sentenced to 24 years
and 6 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. This sentence is to be served concurrently with Arjona’s sentence in a separate federal methamphetamine trafficking and kidnapping case, in which he was sentenced in August 2025 to 17 years and 7 months’ imprisonment. Arjona has been in custody since February 25, 2025, he pleaded guilty on November 19, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to court documents, Arjona recruited Hernan Cruz-Moreno and Agustin Ortiz-Sanchez to transport more than 132 pounds of methamphetamine to Tampa in their luggage on a flight from Los Angeles, California to Tampa International Airport (TIA) on May 3, 2023, while Arjona traveled to Florida separately to oversee the distribution of the methamphetamine.
After Cruz-Moreno and Ortiz-Sanchez were stopped and arrested at TIA and their luggage was seized, special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) had packaging from the seized methamphetamine tested and received a positive match on fingerprint testing for Arjona. Airline records showed that Arjona had traveled to Tampa later and flew out of Orlando on May 3, 2023…