A brazen scheme to smuggle over 8 kilos of narcotics in a candy box has landed a 35-year-old man from Mexico a 144-month stint in federal prison.
Nestor Alan Garcia, a U.S. citizen residing in Monterrey, Mexico, was convicted of smuggling two kilograms of cocaine and six kilograms of methamphetamine in a box of ‘pulparindo’ candy, puppies, and various meat products.
A federal jury deliberated for approximately 45 minutes before convicting Garcia on all six counts as charged following a four-day trial in September 2022.
According to testimony, Garcia attempted to enter the Hidalgo Port of Entry in a taxi on May 13, 2022, claiming he was going to a party in McAllen. However, authorities referred Garcia to secondary inspection, where a search of the box of candy revealed the massive stash of narcotics.
Garcia lied when questioned about the drugs, claiming he had no knowledge of how they were placed in the box or how he came into custody of them. However, law enforcement testified that Garcia had coordinated the smuggling of the narcotics with his mother for days leading up to the event.
The defense attempted to convince the jury that Garcia had no knowledge of the drugs and was simply doing a favor for his mother. However, the jury did not believe those claims and found him guilty as charged.
Garcia has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of Customs and Border Protection. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eliza Carmen Rodriguez and Lee Fry prosecuted the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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