Donelfert Monterroso Vasquez, 51, a Guatemalan national, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to conspiring to import more than 450 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Monterroso Vasquez is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26, 2027. He faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison. A federal district court judge will decide any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors set by law, the department said.

According to court documents, Monterroso Vasquez coordinated the movement of cocaine in quantities of several hundred kilograms from Colombia through his location in Guatemala and on to Mexico. A network of associates then moved the drugs into the United States, where the department said distribution would generate the highest profit.

The court documents say Monterroso Vasquez and his co-conspirators communicated over an encrypted platform. At one point, he sent an image of a brick of cocaine with “USA” stamped on it, which the department said indicated it was destined for the United States.

Monterroso Vasquez was arrested upon landing at an airport in the United States in June 2026. He has remained in custody since then. The department did not say which airport.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Field Division.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Memphis office investigated the case. It received help from the agency’s Special Operations Division, its offices in Guatemala and Colombia, and the Guatemalan National Police.

Trial Attorney Claire Galasso of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edgardo J. Rodriguez and Christopher M. Carter are prosecuting the case. The department describes the section’s mission as taking the profit out of crime, eliminating drug cartels and protecting the U.S. financial system.