Armando Mejia-Almazan, Meth Trafficking, Tennessee 2023

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A Chattanooga man has been sentenced to 292 months in prison for his role in a meth trafficking operation.

Armando Mejia-Almazan, 44, a Mexican National, was sentenced to 292 months in prison by the Honorable Travis R. McDonough, Chief United States District Judge, in the United States District Court at Chattanooga.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Mejia-Almazan agreed to plead guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual) and 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A), and 846.

According to court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, Mejia-Almazan distributed more than 50 kilograms of ice methamphetamine to a Chattanooga-based drug trafficking organization. He utilized multiple apartments in the Atlanta metro area to facilitate his drug trafficking and acted under the direction of a Veracruz, Mexico-based methamphetamine broker affiliated with the Cartel de Jalisco Nuevo Generacion (“CJNG”).

“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to targeting the ongoing threat to our communities from cartel-based drug traffickers,” said United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those who seek to profit from flooding our communities with dangerous drugs will face justice.”

This sentencing was the culmination of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the joint investigation which led to the indictment and subsequent conviction of Mejia-Almazan, included DEA Chattanooga Resident Office, DEA Atlanta Field Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation Chattanooga Resident Agency, Chattanooga Police Department, and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Numerous agencies from the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force assisted in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin T. Brown represented the United States.

After his release from imprisonment, Mejia-Almazan will be on supervised release for five years and may be subject to deportation.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtn/pr/meth-trafficker-sentenced-292-months-imprisonment