BOISE – Lucio Landeros-Valdez, 24, a Mexican national from Sinaloa, Culiacan, was sentenced in federal court in Boise today for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Fruitland, Idaho, and Ontario, Oregon, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced Landeros-Valdez to serve 240 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release.

On November 18, 2011, a federal jury found Landeros-Valdez guilty at trial. According to testimony and evidence presented, the defendant and two codefendants drove from Phoenix, Arizona, to Ontario, Oregon, with almost a pound of 94% pure methamphetamine. The jury heard testimony that on March 10, 2011, the defendants sold approximately one ounce of the methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement officer. Following the defendants' arrests later that day, officers found methamphetamine concealed in a box of Tide detergent in the trunk of the car they were driving. According to trial testimony, the serial numbers on the money found in the possession of one of Landeros-Valdez's co-defendants, Jesus Octavio Arreola-Beltran, matched previously recorded serial numbers on the bills used by the officer to purchase the sample of the methamphetamine earlier that day.

Co-defendant Jose Gabriel Virgen, 34, of Nayarit, Mexico, formerly living in Washington state, was sentenced on December 12, 2011. He pleaded guilty to the charge on September 12. Co-defendant Arreola-Beltran, 24, also of Sinaloa, Culiacan, Mexico, will be sentenced at a later date.

“Federal, state and local law enforcement in Idaho and Oregon will work together to ensure that methamphetamine traffickers receive sure and significant punishment,” said Olson. “Twenty years in federal prison sends the strong message that we will not tolerate the trafficking of this dangerous, addictive drug in Idaho's communities. I commend the investigators and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynne Lamprecht for their work on this case.”

The case was investigated by the Idaho State Police, the Ontario (Oregon) Police Department, and High Desert Drug Task Force officers.