Illegal Alien from Mexico Indicted for Alleged Drug Trafficking after Law Enforcement Seized Approximately 176 Pounds of Narcotics

ST. GEORGE, Utah - a federal grand jury in St. George returned an indictment today charging an illegal alien from Mexico for drug crimes after law enforcement, including agents with the Homeland Security Task Force, seized approximately 176 pounds of methamphetamine during a traffic stop last month.

According to the allegations in court documents, on March 13, 2026, Robert William Galicia-Hernandez, 27, of Sinaloa, Mexico, was pulled over in a black Nissan Sentra for a traffic violation near the Utah/Arizona border. During the traffic stop, A law enforcement K-9 was used to conduct a "sniff" of the vehicle and gave a positive alert to the presence of illegal drugs. A search of the vehicle was conducted and officers located and seized multiple packages of a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed approximately 176.6 pounds.

Galicia-Hernandez is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. His initial appearance on the indictment is scheduled for April 20, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in courtroom 2B at the courthouse located at 206 West Tabernacle Street, St. George, Utah 84470.

First Assistant United States Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated by the St. George Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations. Valuable assistance was provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Hurricane Police Department, and the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Assistant United States Attorney Brady Wilson of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.

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.

These prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) 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. The case was investigated by agents and officers of the HSTF Salt Lake and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.