TAMPA, Fla. – A California man will spend more than two decades in federal prison after a botched attempt to flood the Tampa Bay area with over 120 pounds of methamphetamine.
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced that 32-year-old Jacob Paul Arjona, of Bakersfield, was sentenced to 24 years and six months for conspiracy to distribute and possess the drug with intent to distribute.
The sentence, handed down following Arjona’s November 2025 guilty plea, is set to run concurrently with a separate 17-year sentence he received in August 2025 for a different federal case involving kidnapping and drug trafficking.
The scheme unraveled in May 2023 when Arjona recruited two men, Hernan Cruz-Moreno and Agustin Ortiz-Sanchez, to act as couriers. The pair boarded a flight from Los Angeles to Tampa International Airport with the massive shipment of meth tucked inside their luggage. While his associates carried the weight, Arjona traveled to Florida on a separate flight to manage the local distribution.
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Law enforcement intercepted the shipment at the airport, arresting the couriers and seizing the narcotics. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents later used fingerprint testing on the drug packaging to link the cargo directly to Arjona. Airline records confirmed he had arrived in Tampa and eventually departed through Orlando on the same day as the bust.
“The coordination and cooperation by our law enforcement partners were effective in disrupting the trafficking of methamphetamine from coast to coast,” Kehoe said. “We will continue to work together to prevent the flow of dangerous drugs into our communities across the Middle District of Florida.”
Arjona’s history of drug-running wasn’t limited to this single incident. Investigators found airline records connecting him to similar marijuana and methamphetamine operations in other areas.
Furthermore, the evidence gathered by HSI helped the Drug Enforcement Administration tie Arjona to a violent October 2023 kidnapping and drug case in Holiday, Florida, for which he pleaded guilty in late 2024.
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“Illicit narcotics like methamphetamine pose a grave threat that destroys lives, tears apart families, and undermines the safety and well-being of neighborhoods across the country,” said Michael Calvo, HSI Tampa acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge. He noted that HSI and the Tampa International Airport Police remain committed to stopping criminals from importing illegal drugs into local communities.
While Arjona and Cruz-Moreno—who was sentenced to seven years in 2024—are now behind bars, the third associate remains at large. Ortiz-Sanchez fled after being released on bond and is currently a fugitive.
The case was the result of a joint effort between HSI and local airport police, with prosecution led by Assistant United States Attorney E. Jackson Boggs, Jr. Arjona has remained in federal custody since February 2025.
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