The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on March 23, 2010, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn S. Ostby, the following individuals were arraigned:

PEDRO GARCIA-VARGAS and JUAN CARLOS BAUTISTA-HERNANDEZ, citizens of Mexico, appeared on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. They are currently detained. If convicted of this charge, they each face possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and could be sentenced to life, a $4,000,000 fine and at least 5 years supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Seykora is the prosecutor for the United States. The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Billings Big Sky Safe Streets Task Force and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force.

The defendants pled not guilty to the charges.

The charge, an indictment, information or complaint, is merely an accusation and all persons named as defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial conference and a trial date will be set and the United States will be required to prove the allegations set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

 

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