Chavez-Garcia is the Tenth Person Sentenced in the OCDETF Case

BOISE – Victor Chavez-Garcia, 20, of Nampa, Idaho, was sentenced today in United States District Court to 130 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine and using a communication facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Chavez-Garcia to serve five years of supervised release and perform 100 hours of community service. He was convicted by a federal jury in Boise on July 13, 2012.

During the four-day trial, the jury heard evidence that beginning in September 2009 and continuing until mid-January 2011, Chavez-Garcia and his co-defendants conspired to distribute more than five pounds of methamphetamine in Canyon County, Idaho. According to trial testimony, 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.

Nine co-defendants have been sentenced in the case: Mexican nationals Jorge Luis Cardoza, Lourdes Muro-Garcia, Diego Gomez-Lara, Antony Alegria Zedeno, Juventino Lara-Plancarte, and Fabian Nunez-Garcia; and Leann Atkisson, Ronald Garcia, and Benjamin Prieto, all of Nampa, Idaho.

The sole remaining defendant in this case, Jose Ramon Escobedo-Gonzalez, is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10 at the federal courthouse in Boise.

In a separate but related case, three defendants are awaiting trial in Boise on January 29, 2013, charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and use of a communication facility. Named in the indictment, which was filed on September 27, 2011, are Ana Reyes a/k/a Ana Gonzales, 25, and Yolanda Yvette Salazar, 48, both of Nampa, and Nereida Lopez a/k/a Nereida Munoz, 30, of Caldwell.

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 Crimes 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, District 3 Probation and Parole, 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.