Man Gets Federal Prison Sentence For Running Drug Trafficking Ring Out Of Hickory Business

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Costa Rican national was sentenced to 20 years in prison today for distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl following a Homeland Security Task Force investigation, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison terms imposed, Ronald Corrales-Arrieta, 48, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after he is released from prison.

According to court documents and proceedings, Corrales-Arrieta operated a car repair business in Hickory, North Carolina. Corrales-Arrieta used his business to traffic methamphetamine and fentanyl. Law enforcement became aware of the defendant’s drug distribution organization on April 15, 2023, after Hickory Police Department officers found a missing man deceased inside Corrales-Arrieta’s business surrounded by hundreds of grams of fentanyl.

After finding the decedent in Corrales-Arrieta’s business, investigators used a confidential informant (CI) to purchase drugs from Corrales-Arrieta’s drug trafficking organization on several occasions. Corrales-Arrieta made many of the drug sales himself and used Mexican nationals illegally present in the United States to facilitate other sales. Corrales-Arrieta even coordinated some drug sales from Costa Rica.

Investigators arrested Corrales-Arrieta on October 18, 2024. Following his arrest, agents searched Corrales-Arrieta’s business, finding two firearms: a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and a Taurus 9mm Handgun.

Corrales-Arrieta is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation to a federal facility.

In making the announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the Department of Homeland Security and the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office for their investigation of the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.