Abel Ayala-Garcia, 31, of Columbus Ayala-Garcia was booked into Bartholomew County Jail on April 28 and released to an undisclosed federal agency the same day. He faces federal charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine. The conspiracy to launder monetary instruments carries a potential sentence of 0 to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge has granted a request from a court-appointed attorney to stop representing a former Columbus resident who authorities say has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, finding that “the two are not able to work together to present adequate defense at trial.”
U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II on Monday granted the request by Indianapolis attorney Doneaka Rucker-Brooks, who had been appointed to represent former Columbus resident Abel Ayala-Garcia, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. Sweeney directed the Indiana Federal Community Defenders to appoint Ayala-Garcia a new attorney within 10 days.
Rucker-Brooks filed a motion to stop representing Ayala-Garcia and requested an attorney-only conference on May 20, the same day as a hearing to determine whether Ayala-Garcia was aware that federal prosecutors had offered him a plea agreement, according to court filings. The attorney told the judge in the motion that “there has been a breakdown in attorney-client communication.”
Court filings do not describe the nature of the communication breakdown, but Ayala-Garcia has repeatedly sent the court documents on his own behalf despite being represented by an attorney.
“It seems, after inquiry, that the motion to withdraw is mutual,” the decision states. “The Court understands Ayala-Garcia’s repeated attempts to contact the court directly, which the Court of course had forwarded to counsel unread, were to complain about counsel and request a switch. …Appointed counsel, for her part, claimed that her client was not open to communication. The Government, based on its observations, agreed.”
“Without placing blame on either Ayala-Garcia or appointed counsel (who, indeed, seems to have met with her client as often as necessary to discuss the case), it seems the two are not able to work together to present an adequate defense at trial,” the decision further states.
Ayala-Garcia is one of more than a dozen people — including five former residents of Bartholomew and Jackson counties — who were arrested in 2022 in what federal authorities say was drug trafficking network transported methamphetamine and other substances from the U.S.-Mexico border to several areas of central and southern Indiana, including Bartholomew County.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials told The Republic in 2022 that the members of the drug trafficking ring were “some of the biggest suppliers” of drugs in Bartholomew and Jackson counties — including methamphetamine and fentanyl — and had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which experts say controls a wholesale distribution network in the U.S. and elsewhere to get drugs into the hands of local street dealers.
Ayala-Garcia is facing the possibility of life in prison over his alleged role in the drug ring. He was initially charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. An updated indictment earlier this month charged him with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.
The possession with intent to distribute charge and the conspiracy to possess charge each carry a possible sentence of 10 years to life in prison, while the conspiracy to launder monetary instruments carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Ayala-Garcia and former Columbus resident Erline Lucero-Asencio are the only two local defendants in the case who have not entered a guilty plea. The two defendants are scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 26.
Co-defendants Claudio Garcia-Morales of Columbus, Victor Vazquez-Hernandez of Seymour and Allison Perdue of Seymour have pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty.
Garcia-Morales was sentenced to 10 years, seven months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, including 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Vazquez-Hernandez was sentenced to 10 years, seven months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Perdue is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.
However, Ayala-Garcia will get another chance to consider a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The judge’s decision this week states that “the government would, if new counsel were appointed, renew its offered plea bargain.”
