A 28-year-old man from Pharr has been sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for importing over $200,000 worth of cocaine, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Miguel Angel Trejo pleaded guilty to the charges on February 21st. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton handed down the sentence, which will be followed by three years of supervised release.
At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence that Trejo played an integral part in smuggling illegal narcotics into the United States. The judge noted that traffickers cannot succeed without the willing participation of transporters like Trejo.
Trejo was caught at the Rio Grande City port of entry checkpoint on November 30, 2023, when he claimed he had no illegal drugs in his vehicle. However, a K-9 alerted to the odor of narcotics during a secondary inspection, leading to a search that revealed 17 bricks of cocaine weighing approximately 19 kilograms hidden in compartments under the floorboards of the rear seat.
The estimated street value of the cocaine is approximately $230,000. At the time of his plea, Trejo admitted that he knew he was smuggling narcotics and had done so on multiple occasions.
Trejo will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Parran III prosecuted the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Cybercrime|Public Corruption|Weapons|Human Trafficking|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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