Kirk Castor, 37, of Kirtland, N.M., was sentenced to 37 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his conviction on a methamphetamine trafficking charge. Castor was one of eight San Juan County residents charged with federal narcotics trafficking offenses as the result of a multi-agency investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force into methamphetamine trafficking on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northwestern New Mexico.
The investigation identified eight defendants, who are charged in five indictments, through a series of methamphetamine purchases by undercover law enforcement officers. Law enforcement authorities seized more than two and a half pounds of methamphetamine, ten firearms, approximately $1,600 in cash and a vehicle during an arrest operation on May 11, 2016.
Castor was arrested on an indictment charging him with distributing methamphetamine on April 1, 2015 and April 3, 2015, in San Juan County, N.M. On Oct. 14, 2016, Castor pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on April 1, 2015, he sold .7 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover officer, and on April 3, 2015, he sold 42 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover officer.
Six of the other seven defendants have entered guilty pleas and have been sentenced. The remaining defendant has entered a not guilty plea and is awaiting trial. Charges in indictments and complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted in a court of law.
The HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force is comprised of officers and investigators from the Farmington Police Department, San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, Bloomfield Police Department, Aztec Police Department and HSI Albuquerque, and is part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program.
Kirk Castor was sentenced in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M. on today’s date for his conviction on a methamphetamine trafficking charge, which carries a sentence of 37 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Castor’s crime was investigated by HSI’s Albuquerque office and the HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force with assistance from various local law enforcement agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Y. Ramirez is prosecuting the cases.
The HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force is a program of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) initiative, which 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) that 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.
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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