Feds seize drugs, 16 firearms from home of man linked to prison drug trafficking

An Albuquerque man is accused of trafficking drugs into a federal prison in New Mexico while being on the run from probation officers for almost two years.

Michael “Gomer” Garcia, 46, was arrested Tuesday, months after being federally charged with attempt to provide a prohibited object to an inmate, attempt by an inmate of a prison to obtain a prohibited object and conspiracy.

There has been a warrant out for Garcia’s arrest on state charges since April 2023, when he skipped out on reporting to a halfway house after repeated probation violations, according to court records.

During that time, Garcia had been featured on Albuquerque’s Metro 15 list of most wanted fugitives.

Authorities who arrested Garcia also arrested Eric Edwards, 36, on a state warrant at a home raided by the FBI Tuesday, Tessa DuBerry, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, told the Journal.

During Tuesday’s raids, federal authorities seized 16 firearms, including five AR-style rifles, more than two dozen high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and drugs from Garcia’s home, DOJ said.

Garcia was the final defendant sought in connection with a conspiracy involving prisoners who formed a drug trafficking network that was bringing contraband into the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, about 80 miles west of Albuquerque, according to the DOJ. The private prison is used to hold detainees for federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In late October, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service executed warrants on 13 homes in Albuquerque and elsewhere that focused on at least 15 suspects involved in drug trafficking at the facility, the Journal previously reported.

At the time, nine people were charged with federal crimes — including Garcia — that included conspiracy and attempting to provide or obtain prohibited objects in a correctional facility while three were facing state charges in an ongoing investigation.

In the allegations against Garcia, on Aug. 10, he and his sister, Monalisa Vargas, threw a package containing drugs and cellphones over a fence at the corrections facility, where two prisoners were supposed to receive the contraband, the indictment against Garcia states. However, the plan “went awry,” and the package was found by corrections officers, according to the DOJ.