Jose Manuel Jimenez, Methamphetamine Distribution, Kentucky 2015

Jose Manuel Jimenez, 34, Guilty of Methamphetamine Distribution in Western Kentucky

Jose Manuel Jimenez, a 34-year-old felon from Hemet, California, has been convicted by a federal jury in Paducah, Kentucky, of conspiracy to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine in McCracken County.

According to evidence presented at the three-day trial, nearly four pounds of pure methamphetamine, valued at $160,000 on the streets, was hidden inside the engine of a Dodge Durango SUV. The trial concluded with a guilty verdict on both counts of the superseding indictment on April 8, 2015.

U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. stated, 'Methamphetamine continues to destroy so many lives; it has become a toxic scourge within our communities.' He added, 'This conviction helps by putting a drug dealer behind bars and removing pounds of this poison from our streets.'

Jimenez, who is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison and could be sentenced to life in prison for his role in the attempted distribution of nearly four pounds of pure methamphetamine.

Co-defendant Rodolfo Benitez pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine on July 22, 2014, and is scheduled for sentencing on April 14, 2015, at 12:30pm before Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Larry E. Fentress and Nute A. Bonner and was investigated by the McCracken County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdky/pr/california-felon-convicted-conspiracy-and-distribution-methamphetamine-western-kentucky