Seven Others Scheduled to be Sentenced

BOISE – U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today that co-conspirators Randi
Leann Atkisson, 32, and Ronald Garcia, 62, both of Nampa, Idaho, were each sentenced to 51
months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute
methamphetamine. Atkisson was sentenced today and Garcia on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge
Edward J. Lodge. They pled guilty to the charge in March and April 2012.

In February 2011, a federal grand jury in Boise returned a 122-count indictment charging
13 people with various drug violations and firearms offenses. According to plea agreements, the
conspiracy began in September 2009 and continued to mid-January 2011. The organization
brought pounds of methamphetamine into Idaho from surroundings states and distributed it
throughout the Treasure Valley. During the investigation, law enforcement officers seized five
pounds of methamphetamine, marijuana, numerous firearms, vehicles, and more than $30,000 in
currency.

Two co-defendants, Jorge Luis Cardoza and Lourdes Muro-Garcia, both Mexican
nationals, were sentenced earlier this summer. Cardoza will serve 120 months in prison for
conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; Lourdes Muro-Garcia will serve 30 months for
money laundering.

Juventino Lara-Plancarte, Fabian Nunez-Garcia, Jose Ramon Escobedo-Gonzalez, Diego
Gomez-Lara, Antony Alegria Zedeno, and Benjamin Prieto pleaded guilty to related drug
trafficking charges and will be sentenced in August and September in Boise. Victor Chavez
Garcia was found guilty on July 13 of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine
and using a communication facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense; sentencing is set
for October 1.

The Organized Crime/Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case, named “Operation
Flamethrower,” is the result of a year-long, multi-agency investigation. Investigators and
prosecutors from federal, state, and local agencies cooperated in the arrests and seizures. It
included the cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Nampa Police Department, Drug
Enforcement Administration, Canyon County Sheriff's Office, Canyon County SWAT team,
Metro Violent Crime Task Force, Idaho State Police, Caldwell Police Department, Ada County
Sheriff's Office, Boise Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
(ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Canyon County Prosecutor's Office, and the
United States Attorney's Office.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that
supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification,
investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.