News Release [printer-friendly version]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2008
For Information Contact,
Special Agent Ramona Sanchez
Public Information Officer
(602) 664-5725

Drug Trafficker Who Survived Rollover Accident Receives 100 Month Sentence

JUL 11 -- (TUCSON, Ariz.) – Cayetano Soto-Contreras, aka Leonel Limon-Galvez, 44, of Sinaloa, Mexico, was sentenced on Wednesday, July 9 by U.S. District Judge  Cindy K. Jorgenson to a prison term of 100 months for his role in a drug trafficking endeavor which resulted in a fatal rollover accident in December 2006.  Soto-Contreras pleaded guilty to felony charges of Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Re-entry After Deportation, and Illegal Alien in Possession of a Firearm, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §841(a)(1), U.S.C.§ 1326(b)(2), and 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(a), respectively.

Soto-Contreras had been arrested after feeling from a rollover which took place on the Tohono O’odham Nation on December 16, 2006.  The other individual found at the scene, presumed to be the driver, received fatal injuries.  Scattered in the wreckage, U.S. Border Patrol agents found bundles containing 634 kilograms of marijuana and a stolen .45 caliber pistol.  The defendant had been previously deported and twice prosecuted for Re-entry After Deportation.  

In sentencing the defendant, Judge Jorgenson mentioned the risk posed by such activities to law enforcement as well as the community.  She imposed a term of 4 years of supervised release to follow the defendant’s release from imprisonment.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Border Patrol.  The prosecution was handled by Carin C. Duryée, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Tucson.