Kenny Sanchez, 53, Charged with Methamphetamine Trafficking in Eddy County, New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A federal grand jury has indicted Kenny Sanchez, a former resident of Carlsbad, New Mexico, and current resident of Balch Springs, Texas, for trafficking methamphetamine in Eddy County. Sanchez, 53, is charged in a four-count indictment with participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy in April 2018 and with distributing methamphetamine on April 18, 2018, April 27, 2018, and May 9, 2018.
The charges against Sanchez are the result of an investigation by the DEA and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force into methamphetamine trafficking in Carlsbad. Sanchez’s indictment was announced this week after he was transferred from Texas to New Mexico to face the charges against him.
Sanchez is charged with participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, distributing methamphetamine on three separate occasions, and is facing a mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum of 40 years of imprisonment on the conspiracy charge and one of the distribution charges, and a mandatory minimum of ten years and a maximum of life of imprisonment on the two remaining distribution charges.
Sanchez was arrested by the Abilene Police Department on a federal arrest warrant issued based on the federal indictment in Abilene, Texas, on September 21, 2018. Sanchez was transferred from Texas to New Mexico on October 26, 2018, and he made his initial appearance in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on October 29, 2018. Sanchez was ordered detained pending trial, which has yet to be scheduled.
Sanchez is charged in a four-count indictment that was filed on September 19, 2018, and charges him with participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy and distributing methamphetamine on three separate occasions.
The Pecos Valley Drug Task Force is comprised of agents and officers from the Bureau of Land Management, Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, and Carlsbad Police Department and is part of the HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.
Charges in indictments are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. These cases were investigated by the DEA and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force and are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clara N. Cobos of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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