Roman Emilio Rascon Jr.

Introduction

Roman Emilio Rascon Jr., a 36-year-old Tucson man, was sentenced on August 11 to 78 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release after admitting he distributed more than six kilograms of cocaine and carried firearms as he did it . Rascon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and the court ordered him to forfeit vehicles, firearms, ammunition, and drug proceeds. His prosecution was run under the Homeland Security Task Force, the whole-of-government initiative aimed at cartel-linked and transnational criminal networks operating in the United States.

Background Information

The Homeland Security Task Force prosecuting Rascon was established by Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” and pairs federal investigators from more than a dozen agencies — DEA, HSI, the FBI, ICE, ATF, the U.S. Marshals Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, CBP, Border Patrol, the Postal Inspection Service, the Secret Service, and the Bureau of Land Management among them — against cartels, foreign gangs, and human smuggling rings . The Arizona task force’s cases share a pattern: drug distribution as the core conduct, firearms as the force multiplier, and forfeiture as the financial penalty. Rascon’s case number is CR-24-5214-TUC-RCC, with Assistant U.S. Attorney David Petermann handling the prosecution in Tucson.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Rascon pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution conspiracy and firearm-in-furtherance counts and was sentenced to 78 months.

At his plea, Rascon admitted the two facts that drove the sentence: that the conspiracy he joined distributed more than six kilograms of cocaine, and that he possessed firearms while he distributed it . The firearm count is the aggravator that moved the case beyond a plain drug plea — under federal law, possessing a gun in furtherance of drug trafficking carries its own consecutive exposure and marks the defendant as armed rather than merely supplying.

The sentencing court compounded the custodial term with forfeiture: Rascon must give up vehicles, firearms, ammunition, and drug proceeds identified in the case . The release records no statement from Rascon or his counsel and no victim testimony; the six-kilogram volume and the armed-distribution finding are the record he was sentenced on.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequence is 78 months — more than six years — in federal prison, five years of supervised release afterward, and the loss of the vehicles, guns, and proceeds the task force seized . The release frames the case as one product of the HSTF’s interagency push, and it lands in the same Tucson pipeline as the task force’s higher-profile sentencings, including the 17-year term given to the fentanyl trafficker the office called the “Queen of the South” in September 2026. For Rascon, the armed-drug-trafficker record now follows him: a federal conviction that names both the narcotics and the guns, with supervised release running five years behind the prison term.

Current Status

Rascon was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Raner C. Collins on August 11, 2026, to 78 months’ imprisonment plus five years of supervised release, with forfeiture ordered . His conviction stands by plea and the term is fixed; the release records no appeal. As in every federal drug case, there is no parole — the 78 months, less good-conduct credit, is the term he serves.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Rascon enters federal custody with an admitted record of moving multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine while armed, and leaves it — no earlier than 2031 — into five years of supervised release with the felony convictions and the forfeiture judgment in place . The armed-enhancement conviction separates him from mere couriers in the prosecutorial record: the case he pleaded to says the guns traveled with the cocaine, and that finding now defines the public record of his 36th year and the totality of his criminal history going forward.

Sources

• DOJ press release, “HSTF Investigation Leads to Tucson Man Being Sentenced to 78 Months in Prison for Drug Conspiracy and Firearm Offenses,” U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, August 13, 2026 source