Two Mexican nationals also ordered deported in separate cases
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Two Mexican nationals in the country illegally have been ordered out by a federal judge in South Dakota in the past week, and a third woman has been sent to prison for more than 12 years for working with Mexican cartels to sell illegal drugs in Indian Country.
District Court Judge Camela Theeler sentenced Jose Jimenez, who also goes by the name Jose Lidio Chavez Florez, to two months in prison for illegal re-entry. Theeler also ordered federal officials to remove him.
That followed her sentencing of Celso Diaz-Martinez to also be removed from the country.
Jimenez, 42, was indicted for possessing a firearm as a prohibited person and from illegal reentry. On Nov. 8, 2024, law enforcement in Rapid City attempted to stop the vehicle he was driving. He fled, leading them on a pursuit. When they did succeed in getting him stopped, police found a semi-automatic rifle in the back seat of the vehicle.
He had already been deported two previous times.
“This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime,” U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell’s office said in a release announcing the sentencing.
Martinez, 52, had been deported four times before. Authorities found him back in the country in Meade County in November 2024. Theeler sentenced him to time served and ordered his immediate removal.
A Pine Ridge woman who worked with Mexican cartels to distribute methamphetamine on Pine Ridge and in Rapid City will serve 12 years and seven months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Stella Caldwell was sentenced by Judge Karen Schreier.
Caldwell, 29, served in a “supervisory role” in the conspiracy to move large amounts of pure methamphetamine from cartels to other distributors in those communities.
“In sentencing Caldwell,” Ramsdell’s office noted, “Judge Schreier lamented how Caldwell’s actions severely damaged the community. The judge also noted the drugs Caldwell was distributing came from Mexican cartels and was 100 percent pure methamphetamine.”
Her case was investigated by the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI.
