Karla Adriana Votta-Cardenas, 43, will spend over 20 years in prison for two counts related to drug trafficking. This announcement came in an August 21 U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) news release.

According to the DEA, Votta-Cardenas, who used a variety of aliases including Adriana, Samantha, and Sophia, is a resident of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. She served as a recruiter for a drug trafficking organization run by Jorge Sanchez-Morales. The organization primarily trafficked methamphetamine from Ciudad Juarez to Atlanta, Georgia.

She recruited people through "help wanted" advertisements on social media platforms but did not inform these individuals that they would be trafficking liquid methamphetamine. For the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), drivers transported liquid methamphetamine from Ciudad Juarez into El Paso and then to Atlanta, concealed in semi-truck fuel tanks. When it arrived in Atlanta, the drug was converted to a crystalline form and sold. Votta-Cardenas was arrested by Mexican authorities and extradited to the United States on November 1, 2023.

The DEA dates back to 1973 and has since focused on enforcing controlled substances laws and regulations in the U.S. The DEA has also targeted organizations and members involved in growing, manufacturing, or distributing controlled substances into the civil and criminal justice systems in the U.S., according to the organization’s About and History pages.