2 South Florida men sentenced in heroin trafficking ring

MIAMI - The last two men involved in the Ayala drug trafficking organization, which was alleged to be distributing significant amounts of heroin throughout South Florida, were sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The sentencing follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Administration, Hollywood Police Department, Broward County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol.

Jose Alonso Escobar, 28, of Miami, was sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by a term of five years of supervised release, and Mario Roude, 28, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., received a sentence of 87 years in prison and three years of supervised release.

Two other men, Jose Wilson Ayala, 35, of Davie, Fla., and Juan Luis Sanchez-Valdez (age unknown) were previously sentenced to 210 and 151 months in prison, respectively. Both sentences are to be followed by five years of supervised release.

An investigation into the Ayala drug distribution organization began in March 2009. The results of that 18-month investigation revealed that this large scale network was responsible for the distribution of multi-kilogram quantities of heroin throughout Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to the indictment which charged them with conspiracy to distribute heroin from March 2009 through October 2010.