Five charged in federal indictment

BOISE – Mexican national Angel Valdez-Soto, 20, also known as Danny Leon-Romos was sentenced today to 108 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for distributing methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Valdez-Soto to forfeit proceeds from his illegal drug activity, including $160,000 in United States currency.

Valdez-Soto pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing methamphetamine on February 27, 2012. According to court documents, he admitted that he distributed at least 150 grams of methamphetamine.

Co-defendant Roy Brian Coolidge, 43, of Nampa, Idaho, was sentenced on April 2, 2012, to 57 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Co-defendant Jose Romos-Gonzales, 25, also known as “Taliban,” a Mexican national illegally in the United States, was convicted on March 12 by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distributing methamphetamine. Romos-Gonzales was living in Caldwell, Idaho, at the time of his arrest. During the trial, the jury heard evidence that between January 1 and May 18, 2011, Romos-Gonzalez and Valdez-Soto entered into a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Ada and Canyon counties in Idaho. According to court testimony, the men obtained methamphetamine from a source in Southern California and sold it in Idaho. Romos-Gonzales and Valdez-Soto traveled to California on several occasions to obtain pound-quantities of methamphetamine. According to trial testimony, Gonzales and Soto were aided in the conspiracy by co-defendants Coolidge, Luis Angel Nunez-Leon, Jose Gregorio Valenzuela-Favela, and others. Romos-Gonzales is scheduled to be sentenced on June 5.

Two co-defendants, Luis Angel Nunez-Leon and Jose Gregorio Valenzuela-Favela, are fugitives.

“These defendants will serve lengthy prison sentences for bringing this dangerously addictive drug into Idaho communities,” said Olson. “State and federal law enforcement officers throughout Idaho will work together to ensure that those trafficking in methamphetamine are caught, prosecuted and convicted.”

The case was investigated by the Boise Police Department Narcotics Unit, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Nampa Police Department.