A suburban Chicago woman accused of using a pizzeria as a front for drug-trafficking has been convicted of multiple drug charges. 43-year-old Maria Garza of Arlington Heights was found guilty of manufacturing and delivering cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.
Garza and co-defendant Carmelo Rios owned the now-shuttered DeLuca's pizzeria in Buffalo Grove. They were arrested in December 2011 following a six-month undercover operation involving local and federal drug enforcement agencies.
Prosecutors alleged Garza and Rios imported illegal drugs for distribution in the Chicago area and on the East Coast.
The 43-year-old Rios, also of Arlington Heights, pleaded guilty in February 2015 to the manufacture and delivery of heroin in exchange for a 13-year prison sentence. Garza next appears in Cook County Circuit Court on June 19.
