Eastern Idaho Man Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Charge

POCATELLO – Sammy Joe Aguirre, 26, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

According to the plea agreement, on March 21, 2013, law enforcement officers observed Aguirre traveling from Idaho Falls to Rupert, Idaho, where he obtained approximately one pound of methamphetamine. While transporting the methamphetamine back to eastern Idaho, Aguirre’s vehicle was stopped, he was arrested and law enforcement seized the methamphetamine. Aguirre admitted in court that he obtained the methamphetamine with the intention of distributing it to others.

Aguirre is scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, 2014, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

Aguirre’s co-defendant, Emilio Martinez, 31, of Rigby, Idaho, pleaded guilty on October 16, 2013, to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. According to the plea agreement, on February 26, 2013, during execution of a search warrant at a residence in Bonneville County, officers found Martinez in possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 3, 2014.

Aguirre and Martinez face up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1 million, and at least three years of supervised release.

The case is the result of a joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), led by the Idaho State Police, with assistance from the Idaho Falls Police Department and Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. Other federal agencies participating in the OCEDTF program include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), 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.