TRUCK DRIVER SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS IN PRISON FOR COCAINE TRAFFICKING

            PHOENIX - On May 14, 2012, Santos Alberto Pulido, 38, of Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake to 14 years in federal prison. Following a trial held on February 7-8, 2012, a federal jury found Pulido guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

            Evidence presented at trial showed that Pulido used his trucking business, Yosemity Transportation, to obtain legitimate loads. Pulido then used the legitimate loads to cover his transportation of narcotics. On March 21, 2011, Pulido picked up a load of 20 kilograms of cocaine from coconspirators in California and then returned to Arizona, with plans to deliver the cocaine to the East Coast later that month. On March 31, 2011, Pulido was contacted by officers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Commercial Vehicle Interdiction Squad near 22nd Avenue and Happy Valley Road in Phoenix. At that time, officers located a sophisticated hidden compartment in the truck cab that Pulido leased and operated. Inside the secret trap, officers found 20 wrapped packages of cocaine weighing a total of 20.05 kilograms. The cocaine was valued at approximately $20,000.00 per kilogram in Arizona.

            The investigation in this case was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The prosecution was handled by Jonell L. Lucca and William H. Bryan III, Assistant United States Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

CASE NUMBER:      CR-11-00626-PHX-NVW
RELEASE NUMBER: 2012-118(Pulido)

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az