FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	April 27, 2012
Docket #: 08-390 GEB

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. sentenced Son Nguyen, 41, of Sacramento, today to 15 years and eight months in prison for distributing methamphetamine and MDMA (Ecstasy). According to court documents, the sentence was based in part on Nguyen’s exceptionally violent criminal history.

Nguyen was one of 51 defendants charged in nine related indictments stemming from a 13-month federal investigation with connections to six different states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Alaska, Georgia, and California. Drugs seizures occurred in California, Alaska, Illinois, and Georgia.

According to court documents, Nguyen worked closely with the leader of one of the four drug rings that federal and state investigators dismantled in August 2008. Nguyen’s operation sold methamphetamine and MDMA in California and shipped methamphetamine to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

As a result of this investigation, officers seized more than 25 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 15 firearms, six marijuana grow houses (approximately 300 to 1,300 plants per house), 13,000 MDMA pills, and a methamphetamine lab capable of producing 10 to 20 pounds of methamphetamine every 24 to 48 hours. Some defendants are also charged with possession of 36 pounds of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Investigators seized approximately $890,000 in criminal assets over the course of the investigation.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, the Central Valley HIDTA; the Sacramento Police Department; the Folsom Police Department, the California Department of Justice; the Milwaukee HIDTA; Illinois State Police; Anchorage Police Department; Nevada County Sheriff’s Department; Yuba/Sutter County Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET-5); Placer County Sheriff’s Department; and the Los Angeles HIDTA. Assistant United States Attorney Michael M. Beckwith is prosecuting the case.

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