Feds arrest felon illegal immigrant after seizing tens of millions in meth stashed in blackberries
On Tuesday, a 44‑year‑old Mexican national—Gerardo Solorio‑Alvarado—was indicted on conspiracy and possession‑with‑intent‑to‑distribute meth charges after prosecutors say he plotted to move tens of millions of dollars’ worth of methamphetamine around the Atlanta area. The plan involved hiding the drug inside shipments of blackberries, and federal agents, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and local police eventually seized roughly 1,600 pounds of the stimulant when they sniffed out the odor in refrigerated trailers.
Solorio‑Alvarado had already spent 17 years in federal prison for a separate conviction involving drug trafficking and a firearm. His alleged accomplice, 36‑year‑old Nelson Enrique Sorto of Atlanta, is on probation after a 2024 conviction for felony meth possession. In late November, agents surveyed a cold‑storage warehouse in Fulton County and spotted three refrigerated box trucks. They followed one truck to a Gainesville gas station, where they watched Solorio‑Alvarado take the driver and abandon the vehicle. A K‑9 unit then detected narcotics, leading officers to find 661 pounds of meth hidden among blackberry pallets inside the truck.
Later, another agent team tracked a second box truck that had been traveling with a SUV—believed to be driven by Sorto—to a southeast Atlanta home. At just after midnight, Georgia State Patrol stopped the SUV, uncovering two guns and several blackberry containers. A subsequent search of the box truck at the residence yielded an additional 924 pounds of meth concealed in the fruit. Together, the two seizures totaled 1,585 pounds, a cache worth tens of millions of dollars.
U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg announced the details at a press briefing, noting that Solorio‑Alvarado’s conviction for drug trafficking and firearm offenses had been secured while he remained an unlawful alien in the United States. He also highlighted the cartel’s history of smuggling meth in produce such as cucumbers, celery, and jalapeños—a tactic that this time involved blackberries.
Both men are currently held in state custody and are slated to be transferred to the U.S. Marshals Service. Hertzberg said his office will seek to deny bail pending trial. Solorio‑Alvarado faces a minimum of 15 years in prison, while Sorto faces at least 10, with each eligible for a maximum sentence of life without parole. These prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative launched by President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”
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