Albuquerque’s Ruben Bustillos-Pacheco, 22, is headed to federal prison for 70 months after admitting to trafficking nearly 400 grams of heroin and arming himself for protection. The sentence, handed down in Santa Fe, N.M., marks another conviction in the government’s aggressive crackdown on opioid supply chains tearing through New Mexico communities.
Bustillos-Pacheco was arrested in December 2015 when DEA agents stormed his Bernalillo County residence with a search warrant. Inside, they seized four firearms—including an AR-15-style rifle—multiple boxes of ammunition, cash, drug paraphernalia, and 412.2 grams of heroin. One of the firearms later confirmed to have been reported stolen.
On December 17, 2015, a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of possession of heroin with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The offenses were pinned to December 9, 2015—the day the operation went down.
More than a year later, on May 1, 2017, Bustillos-Pacheco pleaded guilty to a felony information, admitting he possessed three firearms and approximately 382 grams of heroin. He explicitly acknowledged the guns were safeguards for his heroin operation, not random coincidence or self-defense.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaheen P. Torgoley as part of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative—a joint effort launched in January 2015 by the UNM Health Sciences Center and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The initiative attacks the opioid crisis through five pillars: prevention, treatment, law enforcement, reentry, and strategic planning.
HOPE’s law enforcement arm, led by the Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA, targets high-level traffickers like Bustillos-Pacheco. With heroin flooding neighborhoods and fueling violent crime, federal authorities say they’re drawing a line: deal dope, pack heat, and you’ll face federal time. Bustillos-Pacheco now serves his 70-month sentence, followed by three years of supervised release.
Related Federal Cases
- Baca Admits to Albuquerque Heroin Deal · New Mexico
- Raton Woman Gets 66-Month Sentence for Heroin & Meth Trafficking · New Mexico
- Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Heroin, Gun Charges · New Mexico
- Albuquerque’s Phillip Gonzales Pleads Guilty to Heroin Trafficking · New Mexico
- Las Cruces Felon Michael Uribe Gets 63 Months for Guns, Meth · New Mexico
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Weapons|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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