MEN SENTENCED TO TWENTY AND FIFTEEN YEARS FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AND FIREARMS

Two men who were part of a large methamphetamine distribution organization were sentenced to long prison terms last week by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill. Hector Diaz-Villareal, 35, of San Miguel, Nayarit, Mexico, will serve 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, U.S. Attorney Tom Moss announced. Ricardo Sanchez-Lopez, 40, of Haujicori, Nayarit, Mexico, was sentenced to 15 years for the same crimes. Following their prison terms, both defendants will be deported back to Mexico. Chief Judge Winmill ordered Diaz-Villareal to pay a fine of $1,600, and Sanchez-Lopez was fined $1,500.

Both defendants were arrested following an eighteen-month investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the Treasure Valley which dismantled two separate drug organizations in the summer of 2007. In the Diaz-Villareal organization alone, the investigation resulted in the conviction of approximately twenty persons in state and federal court.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Nampa Police Department, and the Ada County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boise by Assistant U.S. Attorney Monte Stiles and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Gearld Wolff of the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office.