Las Cruces Heroin Kingpin Sentenced to Over 7 Years

ALBUQUERQUE – The grimy streets of Las Cruces were shook by the sentencing of Nathan Andrew Maestas, 31, who was today locked away for 72 months in federal prison for heroin trafficking. Maestas was one of 20 defendants ensnared in a massive multi-agency investigation into drug trafficking operations in Doña Ana County.

Maestas and his co-conspirators, including the notorious Jovita Belmonte-Gonzalez, were fingered in a five-case indictment that exposed an elaborate heroin trafficking ring. Belmonte-Gonzalez, 43, from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was the linchpin, accused of supplying heroin to five drug rings in Doña Ana County.

Belmonte-Gonzalez admitted her role in frequent heroin transactions and faces a life sentence after pleading guilty to four of the charges. Maestas, who also confessed to being a felon in possession of a firearm, was sentenced alongside his co-defendants. The only holdout is Patrick Gonzales, who has pleaded not guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Garreth Winstead III and his team are prosecuting this case with the backing of agencies like the FBI, DEA, and local law enforcement. Their efforts were part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, a nationwide initiative aimed at dismantling drug trafficking organizations.

This is also a victory for the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative, which aims to reduce opioid-related deaths. The HOPE Initiative’s law enforcement arm has been targeting major heroin trafficking organizations like Maestas’.