FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
January 5, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:08-cr-0417 MCE

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Fernando Murguia-Ochoa, 42, of Michoacán, Mexico, and Jose Anguiano, 37, of Oakdale, to lengthy terms in prison for drug trafficking. Judge England sentenced Murguia-Ochoa to 24 years and four months in prison and Anguiano to 15 years and eight months in prison. In 2010, Murguia-Ochoa and Anguiano each pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking.

            This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Stanislaus Drug Enforcement Agency. Assistant United States Attorney Jason Hitt is prosecuting the case.

            According to court documents, in August 2008, Murguia-Ochoa and Anguiano brought more than $750,000 worth of methamphetamine from Southern California into the Central Valley. On August 28, 2008, the Stanislaus County SWAT team served a federal search warrant at Anguiano’s residence in Oakdale and seized 39 pounds of methamphetamine.

            In imposing such lengthy sentences, Judge England called the defendants’ conduct “very serious” because of the “massive quantities” of drugs involved and the countless lives that were ruined by the drugs distributed into California communities by these individuals. Judge England also considered that Murguia-Ochoa committed his crimes while being present in the United States illegally from Mexico. Judge England noted that Murguia-Ochoa will very likely be deported to Mexico when he finishes serving his lengthy prison sentence.

            Previously in the same case, Miguel Zepeda-Lopez received a 14-year prison sentence. Two other defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Mario Sarrano-Aburto is scheduled to be sentenced on February 23, 2012, and Joshua Ortega is scheduled to be sentenced on February 2, 2012.

            This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.

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