Sam Eylicio, Jr., Crack Cocaine Trafficking, New Mexico 2013

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In a shocking turn of events, Sam Eylicio, Jr., 37, of Albuquerque, pleaded guilty this morning to participating in a cocaine base trafficking conspiracy.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Eylicio will be sentenced to 125 months in federal prison followed by four years of supervised release.

Eylicio was one of five men who were indicted in April 2013, on federal narcotics and firearms charges as the result of ‘Operation Rio Grande Stucco,’ a DEA-led investigation into an organization that allegedly manufactured and distributed cocaine base, more commonly known as ‘crack’ or ‘crack cocaine,’ in Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties, N.M.

The five-count indictment charged Eylicio, Gabriel Mirabal, 33, and Dominic Anaya, 33, of Albuquerque, and Michael Jaramillo, 24, and Robert Romero, 26, of Santa Fe, with conspiring to distribute crack cocaine in Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties between May 2012 and April 2013.

Jaramillo also was charged with distributing crack cocaine in Santa Fe in March 2012. Romero was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in Santa Fe in July 2012, and with using and carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Mirabal was charged with possessing cocaine with intent to distribute in Albuquerque in Feb. 2013.

Today Eylicio pled guilty to the conspiracy count of the indictment and admitted purchasing ounce quantities of crack cocaine and cocaine from a co-conspirator and then selling the drugs to others for profit. As an example, Eylicio acknowledged negotiating the purchase of three ounces of crack cocaine and eleven ounces of cocaine from the co-conspirator on June 27, 2012.

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

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the DEA and the HIDTA Region III Drug Task Force, with assistance from the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office for the State of New Mexico, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

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