Federal prosecutors have indicted a 51-year-old Los Angeles-area man accused of using cartel connections and corrupt Mexican officials to feed sensitive police information to a fugitive drug trafficker, according to the Department of Justice.
Robert Gomez, a U.S. citizen from South Los Angeles who also goes by “Rob Flores,” “Rooster” or “Fatboy,” faces a six-count indictment. Gomez is a member of the 38th Street Gang and fled to Mexico in 2000 after being charged in California state court with robbery.
While living in Mexico, Gomez built relationships with the Cartel Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa Cartel, prosecutors say. Those ties allegedly allowed him to participate in drug trafficking networks that moved narcotics from Central and South America by boat and plane into Mexico, then smuggled the drugs by land into the United States.
By 2018, federal prosecutors had already charged Gomez with multiple drug trafficking offenses. He has been considered a federal fugitive ever since.
Prosecutors allege Gomez used his contacts in Mexico to access sensitive police records on investigations, operations, warrants and cases targeting him and his associates. One of those associates was Ryan Wedding, a 45-year-old Canadian Olympic snowboarder who turned to drug trafficking. Prosecutors say Gomez passed information to Wedding that helped him dodge capture and protect his criminal interests.
Wedding went on to build a drug trafficking operation in Mexico that moved narcotics into the United States and Canada before he was captured and extradited to the U.S. earlier this year.
A Second Cartel Figure Tied to Wedding
Federal prosecutors also disclosed details about another cartel figure who assisted Wedding. That man, 42-year-old Edgar Aaron Vasquez Alvarado, known as “The General” or “Mini,” died in a shootout with Mexican police last week. He ran his own smaller cartel, Cartel Nuevo Imperio.
Authorities say Vasquez paid off senior Mexican security officials to obtain code words that let his drug shipments move freely across the country. He is also accused of bribing officials to slow investigations, destroy evidence and get charges dismissed.
Prosecutors say Vasquez played a central role in helping Wedding evade capture from 2024 until his arrest earlier this year.
