Luis Abelardo Ibarra, Cocaine Trafficking, New Mexico 2013

Luis Abelardo Ibarra, 36, Faces 6 Years in Prison for Cocaine Trafficking

A Texas man has pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge in New Mexico after being caught with over 10 pounds of cocaine during a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint inspection.

Luis Abelardo Ibarra, of Fort Worth, Texas, pled guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to a cocaine trafficking charge arising out of the seizure of more than ten pounds of cocaine during a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint inspection.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Ibarra will be sentenced to six years in prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.

Ibarra also will be required to forfeit $12,878 seized from him and his co-defendant during the checkpoint inspection.

Ibarra and his co-defendant Claudio M. Martinez, Jr., 47, also of Hobbs, were arrested in May 2013, on a criminal complaint alleging that they possessed approximately 4.76 kilograms (10.49 pounds) of cocaine in Luna County, N.M.

Ibarra remains in custody pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

Martinez, who pled guilty to the indictment in June 2014, was sentenced in Sept. 2014, to six years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA and the U.S. Border Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Ong of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Drug Trafficking

Jose Miguel Hernandez, Methamphetamine Trafficking, California 2024

May 8, 2026

Drug Trafficking

Tares Terrell Hearn, Methamphetamine Distribution Conspiracy, Louisiana 2016

Feb 24, 2017

Drug Trafficking

Soon Phatdouang, Meth Conspiracy, Iowa 2017

Sep 7, 2017

Drug Trafficking

Ildefonso Bautista Nogales, Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, Tennessee 2019

Oct 7, 2019