Deported drug dealer kept selling meth in Kansas after becoming an informant, KBI says

Federal agents have arrested an accused drug dealer who was deported to Mexico and returned to Kansas after selling methamphetamine following an agreement to become an informant.

Raul Valenzuela-Arce, also known as Sinaloa, was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Topeka with distributing meth. If convicted, he would face 10 years to life in prison plus a fine of up to $10 million, according to the criminal complaint.

Topeka police started investigating Valenzuela-Arce in February 2019, a special agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation wrote in an affidavit. He was suspected of distributing meth in the Topeka area, and police arrested him in March 2019 on state drug and gun charges.

The KBI agent and a Topeka police officer met with him while he was in jail, and he agreed to become a KBI informant.

“The plan was for Arce’s charges to be dismissed and then he would assist the KBI and TPD with making controlled purchases of methamphetamine from large-scale methamphetamine dealers in Topeka and the Kansas City metro,” the agent wrote.

Valenzuela-Arce was never used in any criminal investigation, though. He was released from jail in April 2019 and stayed in contact with the KBI, but investigators “decided not to use him as an informant for several months, to help alleviate any suspicion that Arce was working with law enforcement.”

Instead of helping the cops, he returned to his illegal activity within months, the agent alleged. In September 2019, a confidential information told Topeka police and the KBI that Valenzuela-Arce was continuing to sell meth from his home in the 600 block of Southeast Chandler.

The informant introduced an undercover KBI agent to Valenzuela-Arce, and the agent made two drug buys in October 2019. He spent $4,300 to get just under one pound of meth. The deals were recorded on audio and video.

One purchase happened within 1,000 feet of Samuel Jackson Park, and the other happened in the Dillons parking lot at 29th and California.

The meth distribution charge wasn’t filed until last week because Valenzuela-Arce was deported to Mexico soon after the drug deals.

He was arrested by Topeka police on Oct. 24, 2019, as part of an unrelated driving under the influence investigation. A booking report shows that he was suspected of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration greater than .08, had an open container and did not have a driver’s license or proof of insurance. While in jail, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed to deport him for being in the country illegally.

Filings in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso show a Raul Valenzuela-Arce was deported in November. He was captured again later that month and convicted of illegally re-entry into the country.

While in Mexico, he told the informant he planned to stay there “for a little while” before coming back to the United States. Investigators found out that Valenzuela-Arce was back in Topeka on July 22, when he asked the informant and undercover agent if they wanted to buy some meth.

The KBI filed the charge in federal court on Thursday, and U.S. Marshals arrested the 28-year-old Valenzuela-Arce the same day, Shawnee County jail records show.

This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 8:44 PM.