An alleged oil smuggling ring in the Permian Basin lead to six people pleading guilty on multiple felonies in a Texas district court.
The thefts involved stealing crude oil from oil and gas facilities in eastern New Mexico, around Hobbs and Carlsbad, and selling it below market rate, including to unknowing midstream oil buyers in Texas.
The guilty pleas were entered July 15 by Gyardo Gonzalez, 47, Mario Mendoza, 40, and Miguel Soto, 41, of Lovington along with Diana Marquez Rojo, 47 and Jesus Martin Hernandez-Borja of Hobbs. Luis Rojo, 51, of Seminole, Texas also pleaded guilty.
All six pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to steal crude oil, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
The five men who agreed to plead guilty face five years in federal prison, while Marquez Rojo agreed to three years for her role in the thefts.
They all face $250,000 fines. Dates for sentencing were not yet set.
In their plea agreements, the group admitted to stealing “10s of thousands” of barrels of crude oil, read the release.
They sold it to 69-year-old Louise George Edgett of Lovington and Brenden Floyd Strickland, 26, of Hobbs, the release read. Both men are also charged but have yet to face trial.
Edgett and Strickland bought the oil “well below” current market rates, read the plea deals, for about $10 to $15 a barrel.
The thefts were reported along with several sales between 2022 and 2024, the release read. In one example, 10,975 barrels between June 2022 and Jul 2024 were sold for $164,625 – $15 a barrel – while it was worth $888,975 on the market.
Another deal saw the thieves steal and sell 9,090 barrels between January and June 2024 and sell it $136,350 while it was worth $724,200 to Edgett and Strickland.
Two other defendants in the case James Darrell Reid, 65, and Randell Reid, 41, of Electra, Texas allegedly bought the oil from Edgett and Strickland, moving the product across the state line to a business in Seminole, Texas where it was sold to unknowing midstream buyers.
The Reids also faced federal charges.
Federal authorities were aided in the investigation by the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Matt Hutchinson said in a social media post that oilfield thefts are widespread in the region, and that his office is focused on dismantling such criminal activity through its participation in the Southeastern New Mexico Oilfield Task Force.
The task force includes the Edd County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Land Management and other state, local and federal agencies, Hutchinson said, “resulting in criminal charges involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses and damages.”
“This case highlights the value of the Oilfield Theft Task Force’s partnership and the need for their investigative support,” Hutchinson said.
Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.
