Manuel Paulino Alvarez-Valdez, Marijuana Importation and Trafficking, New Mexico 2012

A federal jury in Las Cruces, New Mexico, has convicted Manuel Paulino Alvarez-Valdez, 36, of Juarez, Mexico, on marijuana importation and trafficking charges. Alvarez-Valdez was arrested on November 20, 2012, after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found approximately 418 pounds of marijuana concealed in compartments under the bed and floorboards of his pickup truck during an inspection at the Santa Teresa, New Mexico, Port of Entry.

The evidence at trial established that Alvarez-Valdez entered the United States at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry driving a pickup truck. At the time, Alvarez-Valdez claimed ownership of the truck. A CBP officer directed Alvarez-Valdez to a secondary inspection after evidence of tampering was found on the truck. During the secondary inspection, the truck was next X-rayed and the X-ray showed anomalies in the bed area. When the truck’s bed was dismantled, the officers found 228 bundles of marijuana weighing an aggregate of 418 pounds.

Alvarez-Valdez has been in federal custody since his arrest in November 2012 and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, Alvarez-Valdez faces a federal prison sentence of not less than five years and not more than 40 years. Alvarez-Valdez will be deported after serving his prison sentence.

The jury deliberated approximately three hours before returning a guilty verdict against Alvarez-Valdez on both counts of the indictment. The case was investigated by HSI’s Las Cruces office and the CBP at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brock Taylor and Mark Saltman of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

Manuel Paulino Alvarez-Valdez, the convicted defendant, is a Mexican national. The marijuana importation and trafficking charges against him are punishable by a federal prison sentence of not less than five years and not more than 40 years.

Alvarez-Valdez was initially arrested on November 20, 2012, at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in New Mexico. He was subsequently indicted in February 2013 on the same charges. The trial of the case began on June 17, 2013, and concluded on June 20, 2013, with the jury returning a guilty verdict against Alvarez-Valdez on both counts of the indictment.

Related Federal Cases