Fourteenth Person Pleads Guilty to Distributing Meth
BOISE – Francisco Quinones, 51, the final defendant in a large scale Treasure Valley drug trafficking operation, pleaded guilty yesterday to distribution of methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Quinones appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush at the federal courthouse in Boise.
According to the plea agreement, on July 18, 2010, Quinones admitted to law enforcement officials that on or about July 14, 2010, he delivered methamphetamine he received from co-defendant Jose Gallardo-Dedios to co-defendant Juan Antonio Arvizu-Betancourt. After receiving cash from Arvizu-Betancourt, Quinones admitted to giving the money to Gallardo-Dedios.
The charge of distributing methamphetamine is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1 million, and a minimum of three years of supervised release.
Sentencing is set for October 21, 2011, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.
Sentenced to prison earlier on related drug trafficking charges were Jose Gallardo-Dedios, 188 months; Guadalupe Valenzuela, 168 months; Fortino Bastida, 135 months; Jason Thomas Marr, 130 months; Angel Joel Dedios, 121 months; Quentin Mick, 90 months; Kalli Lindauer, 78 months; Haylee Lindauer, 72 months; Jorge Valdez, 57 months; Shawn Peterson, 46 months; Juan Arvizu-Betancourt, 18 months; Heidi Tucker, 12 months; and Nabor Martinez-Herrera, 48 months.
The Boise Police Department's BANDIT Drug Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration, as part of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), led the investigation. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force which supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The Nampa Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Ada County Sheriff's Office, Canyon County Sheriff's Office, Idaho State Police, and Meridian Police Department assisted in the investigation.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a collaborative effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and communities to prevent and deter gun violence.
