Jose Remberto Guzman-Dominguez, Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking, New Mexico 2015
Jose Remberto Guzman-Dominguez Sentenced to 15 Years for Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking
ALBUQUERQUE - Jose Remberto Guzman-Dominguez, a 34-year-old legal permanent resident from El Salvador, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his conviction on cocaine and heroin trafficking charges in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Guzman-Dominguez will also be deported after completing his prison sentence.
The defendant and co-defendant Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Flores, 47, of Hawthorne, California, were arrested on November 14, 2015 after approximately 117.15 pounds of narcotics were found in their commercial tractor-trailer during a routine inspection at the port of entry on Interstate 10 near Lordsburg, New Mexico.
The two men were charged by criminal complaint and subsequently indicted on February 17, 2016 on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin and possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to distribute.
A jury returned a verdict of guilty on all three counts on July 15, 2016 after a trial that began on July 11, 2016.
The evidence at trial established that the defendants were traveling in a commercial tractor-trailer from Phoenix, Arizona to Lordsburg on the evening of November 13, 2015 and the early morning of November 14, 2015 when they were stopped by the New Mexico Motor Transportation Police at the port of entry on Interstate 10 in Hidalgo County.
A cargo inspection found four cardboard boxes that were different from the industrial cleaning solution containers, which contained 51 bundles of narcotics weighing a total of 53.14 kilograms. Laboratory tests later performed on the contents of the 51 bundles determined that 46 of the packages contained an aggregate of 105.6 pounds of cocaine and five packages contained an aggregate of 11.55 pounds of heroin.
Rodriguez-Flores was sentenced to 10 years in prison on March 15, 2017 followed by five years of supervised release.
The Border Enforcement Security Taskforce of the Las Cruces office of Homeland Security Investigations, New Mexico State Police, and New Mexico Motor Transportation Police investigated this case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brock Taylor and Richard Williams of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case as part of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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