ALBUQUERQUE – A ruthless Tucson cocaine kingpin, Jesus Quiroz, 36, pleaded guilty today in federal court for his role in smuggling a staggering 158.95 pounds of pure cocaine into New Mexico.
The crime was exposed when law enforcement officers at the New Mexico Port of Entry near Lordsburg, NM, intercepted a shipment containing 61 packages of cocaine, totalling an estimated $1.8 million street value, as Quiroz attempted to sneak them across the border from his vehicle on September 9, 2016.
Quiroz, already on probation for a previous state cocaine trafficking conviction in Arizona, was nabbed during this latest seizure. The grimy details of the crime were laid out in a federal complaint charging him with possession of over 72 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute in Hidalgo County, NM.
Quiroz’s criminal activities didn’t stop there. He faced additional charges of possessing visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, following the discovery of illegal materials during his arrest. The double-digit charges piled up on December 14, 2016, when he was formally indicted on two counts.
In a court proceeding that saw the defendant admit to his grimy past, Quiroz entered a guilty plea to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. His fate now hinges on a sentencing hearing yet to be scheduled, where he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in federal prison, with life as the maximum penalty.
This heartless drug ring has been dismantled thanks to an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations and the New Mexico State Police, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Brock Taylor is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
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Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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