Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Meridian Man Sentenced to 150 Months in Federal Prison for Trafficking Meth

POCATELLO – Cesar Urrea-Navarette, 34, of Meridian, Idaho, was sentenced in federal court on Monday to 150 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute in excess of fifty grams of actual methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also fined Urrea-Navarette $1,000. He pleaded guilty to the charge on December 18, 2012.

According to the indictment, on July 7, 2011, a meeting was arranged by a third party between Urrea-Navarette and an undercover officer, who subsequently met with Urrea-Navarette in a vehicle located at a restaurant parking lot in Boise. At that meeting, Urrea-Navarette sold the undercover officer 55.10 grams of actual methamphetamine in exchange for $2,400. According to the indictment, Urrea-Navarette admitted he possessed the methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it on various dates, including July 7, 2011.

Co-defendant Ruben Moreno Sanchez, of Boise, was sentenced in September 2012 to 151 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute fifty grams or more of actual methamphetamine.

The indictment was the result of a joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, in conjunction with Idaho State Police, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Boise Police Department. Other federal agencies participating in the OCDETF program include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland
Security Investigation (HSI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Marshals Service.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.