| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 21, 2009 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN FRANCISCO – Rafael Franco Perez pleaded guilty in federal court in San Francisco last week to conspiring to distribute over six kilograms of methamphetamine, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.
In pleading guilty, Mr. Franco Perez admitted that in November of 2008, he helped coordinate the shipment and delivery of over six kilograms of actual methamphetamine, smuggled from Mexico into the United States inside the transmission of a pickup truck. Mr. Franco Perez admitted that the shipment was ultimately intended for distribution in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California, before being intercepted in the vicinity of Los Banos, California, by officers and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the California Highway Patrol.
Franco Perez was originally charged along with 9 other individuals as part of a coordinated sweep of arrests, indictments and search warrants executed across Northern California on February 4, 2009, known as Operation Smack Down. Thus far, the operation has resulted in the seizure of the 6 kilograms of methamphetamine described above, as well as over 1 kilogram of heroin, over $350,000 in cash drug proceeds, and multiple firearms.
The original indictment against Mr. Franco Perez, 38, of Redwood City, California, charged him with one count of conspiring to distribute heroin and methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, two counts of distributing heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B)(i), one count of distributing methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A)(viii), one count of money laundering, in violation 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A), and one count of employing a minor to commit a drug offense, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 861(a)(1). Under the plea agreement, Mr. Franco Perez pled guilty to the most serious conspiracy count.
Mr. Franco Perez was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals after the plea hearing. His sentencing is scheduled for January 13, 2010, before U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty Franco Perez faces is life in prison, with a minimum mandatory 10 years, and a fine of $4,000,000. In pleading guilty, Mr. Franco Perez agreed to serve a sentence of at least 210 months, or 17.5 years, in prison. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Aaron Wegner and Waqar Hasib are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting the case, with the assistance of legal technicians Hui Chen and Jacquelyn Lovrin. The prosecution is the result of a two year investigation led by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”), together with agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”). The investigation was conducted and funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a multi-agency task force that coordinates long-term narcotics trafficking investigations.
Further Information:
Case #:09-0103-CRB
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