Javier Amador-Flores, Methamphetamine Trafficking Conspiracy, New Mexico 2016

A federal jury in New Mexico has convicted a Mexican national of a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy charge.

Javier Amador-Flores, 49, was found guilty on a single count of methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy after a three-day trial in Las Cruces. Amador-Flores, a permanent resident from Mexico who lived in Denver City, Texas, was arrested on July 29, 2015, on an indictment charging him and four co-defendants with participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Lea County, New Mexico, from May 1, 2015, through May 6, 2015.

Three of Amador-Flores' co-defendants, Joel Dominguez-Morales, 41, Maria Marcelina Cardoza-Burciaga, 40, and Myrna Orozco, 32, a U.S. citizen, were also arrested. The fourth co-defendant, Jose Manuel Trujillo, 41, has yet to be arrested and is considered a fugitive.

The evidence at trial established that Amador-Flores participated in the methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy by receiving and storing shipments of methamphetamine at the residence he shared with Orozco in Denver City. Other members of the conspiracy distributed the methamphetamine in Lea County.

According to trial testimony, on May 1, 2015, an undercover agent arranged to purchase methamphetamine from Trujillo. On May 6, 2015, Trujillo informed the undercover agent that Dominguez-Morales would be delivering the methamphetamine to the agent. Thereafter, Dominguez-Morales met with the undercover agent at a restaurant in Hobbs and directed the agent to meet him at an abandoned bar in a rural area outside of Hobbs, where a woman would deliver the methamphetamine.

Later that day, law enforcement officers arrested Dominguez-Morales and Cardoza-Burciaga near the abandoned bar and seized almost four kilograms of methamphetamine. As part of their continuing investigation, on May 6, 2015, the officers executed a consensual search at the residence shared by Amador-Flores and Orozco, where they seized additional methamphetamine.

Amador-Flores remains in custody pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, Amador-Flores faces a statutory mandatory minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in prison. He will be deported after completing his prison sentence.

His co-defendants Dominguez-Morales, Cardoza-Burciaga, and Orozco each face a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Dominguez-Morales and Cardoza-Burciaga will be deported after serving their prison sentences.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/federal-jury-new-mexico-convicts-mexican-national-methamphetamine-trafficking-conspiracy