Homeland Security Task Force Investigation leads to 20‐year federal sentence for Dallas meth trafficker after agents seize cache of drugs and firearms

DALLAS - United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced that Bryan Manuel Cisneros-Ruiz, 28, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Cisneros-Ruiz pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine on February 4, 2025. Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor imposed the 240-month sentence Oct. 20.

"Bryan Cisneros-Ruiz wasn't a small-time dealer, he was a high-volume trafficker pushing staggering quantities of pure methamphetamine into our communities," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. "Seizing more than 77 kilograms of meth and multiple firearms from a one-bedroom apartment underscores just how dangerous this operation was. This sentence sends a clear message: If you pump poison into North Texas, we will dismantle your network and pursue the longest sentences the law allows."

"Heroin and methamphetamine flooding North Texas represent a direct threat to the safety of our communities, and DEA will not stand by while traffickers profit from that danger," said DEA Dallas Acting Special Agent in Charge Ivan Carrera. "With a jail sentence of 240 months, Mr. Cisneros will have plenty of time to reflect on the threat his actions posed on our community. The DEA and its law enforcement partners are committed to dismantling drug trafficking networks and holding every individual involved fully accountable."

According to court documents, in September 2023, federal agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Group III began investigating a drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing kilogram level quantities of methamphetamine and heroin operating in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Agents identified Cisneros-Ruiz as a Dallas-based distributor within the organization.

On Oct. 12, 2023, DEA agents executed a federal search warrant at Cisneros-Ruiz's apartment. Just before the search, investigators observed Cisneros-Ruiz place a large white trash bag into a vehicle driven by his co-defendant. Dallas Police Department officers stopped the vehicle and recovered approximately nine kilograms of suspected methamphetamine from the trash bag.

Inside the apartment, agents seized an additional approximately 68 kilograms of methamphetamine, much of it already packaged for distribution, along with drug paraphernalia, multiple cell phones and $43,317 in U.S. currency. Agents also recovered four firearms: a Springfield Armory XD-9 pistol, a Glock 43 pistol, an SKS rifle, and an Aero Precision rifle.

Laboratory testing confirmed the methamphetamine seized from the vehicle was 100% pure and the methamphetamine from the residence was 97% pure.

As part of his sentence, Cisneros-Ruiz was ordered to forfeit the $43,317 in currency seized during the investigation. Following completion of his prison term, he will also be subject to four years of supervised release and will be surrendered to immigration authorities for removal proceedings.

The DEA's Dallas Division's HIDTA Group III conducted the investigation with assistance from the Dallas Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph T. Lo Galbo from the Narcotics/HSTF/Asset Forfeiture Section prosecuted the case.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting, the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

HSTF Dallas comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, United States Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, and United States Secret Service in partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety, City of Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office and other local law enforcement entities.