Mexican National Sentenced To 15 Years For Illegal Firearms, Meth

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Mexican national was sentenced in federal court today for his role in conspiracies to distribute a large quantity of methamphetamine and to illegally possess firearms.

Armando Dominguez-Morales, 33, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Dominguez-Morales to forfeit to the government $66,000, which was seized by law enforcement officers.

On Sept. 7, 2012, Dominguez-Morales pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine since January 2008 and to participating in a conspiracy to possess firearms in relation to a drug-trafficking offense.

According to court documents, Dominguez-Morales, an illegal alien, was one of the primary distributors for a drug-trafficking organization that was led by co-defendant Mauricio Ramos-Hernandez, 39, a Mexican national residing in Kansas City, Kan. (who has also pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing). Dominguez-Morales had multiple people selling methamphetamine for him and was a main supplier of the narcotics.

Between Jan. 14, 2009, and Aug. 24, 2010, there were 20 controlled drug purchases from this drug-trafficking organization, totaling nearly 730 grams of actual methamphetamine “ice,” an unusually strong purity and concentration of this addictive controlled substance. In addition to trafficking methamphetamine, Dominguez-Morales engaged in gun trafficking.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudolph R. Rhodes, IV. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives NITRO Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration.