Drug agents: 4 charged in group shipping marijuana from Texas to Alabama and Tennessee

BIRMINGHAM, Al.
 Three men and one woman from the Birmingham area have been arrested as part of a multi-state investigation into an operation that shipped marijuana from Texas into Alabama and then into Tennessee.
Cleto Romero Medina, Biato Jaramillo-Romero, Alveido Estrada-Diaz, and Reyna Patino-Espinoza were arrested Monday and charged with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham. The arrests followed the seizure of 270 pounds of marijuana.
The four are to appear at a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Ott.
Efforts on Tuesday to reach Drug Enforcement Administration agents for comment were unsuccessful.
The drug investigation was conducted by DEA agents in Birmingham; Austin, Texas; and Nashville, Tenn., along with local and state law enforcement, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint by a DEA agent in Birmingham.
Medina was identified in the affidavit as the cell leader for the Bessemer-based cell of the organization and "oversees all aspects of the organization's activities in Alabama."
The organization obtains marijuana in Texas and transports it by bus to Bessemer, according to the affidavit. "The marijuana is placed in multiple suit cases and placed in the cargo hold of the bus," the affidavit states.
An amount of marijuana is transported to Tennessee for distribution while a portion is kept in Bessemer for distribution locally, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit:
DEA agents got information Saturday that Medina was expecting a shipment early Monday of 270 pounds of marijuana from the supplier in Texas.
Agents tracked the movements of Medina, of Bessemer, and his half-brother, Jaramillo, of Brighton, and three men who drove in from Tennessee. The agents had a warrant to track the GPS locations of Medina's and Jaramillo's cell phones.
At 3:30 a.m. Monday DEA agents saw Jaramillo, with the help of Estrada-Diaz load large black suitcases from a bus stopped at a truck stop off Interstate 59/20 in McCalla into a Ford Explorer. Passengers had already exited the bus.
About 8:20 a.m. Monday, Tennessee State Troopers stopped two vehicles carrying three men from Tennessee and found 115 pounds of marijuana in a suitcase in one of the vehicles. Medina and Estrada were arrested when they stopped at a rest stop in Alabama about 10 miles south of the Tennessee state line.
About an hour later Jaramillo was stopped and arrested as he drove back into Alabama.
DEA agents searched Jaramillo's home in Brighton and Medina's home in Bessemer on Monday. About 155 pounds of marijuana and $15,000 in cash was found in Jaramillo's home in Brighton and 18 ounces of methamphetamine inside Medina's home in Bessemer, according to the affidavit.
Earlier in the investigation DEA agents had bought methamphetamine from Jaramillo that was personally delivered by his wife, Patino-Espinoza, according to the affidavit.
No information on what happened to the men stopped in Tennessee was included in the affidavit. A spokesman for the Tennessee troopers referred questions to the DEA.