Mexican National Receives 87-Month Prison Sentence for Federal Heroin Trafficking Conviction
ALBUQUERQUE – Earlier today, United States District Judge Judith C. Herrera sentenced Sabas Ramirez-Ruiz to a 87-month term of imprisonment to be followed by a fouryear term of unsupervised release for his federal heroin trafficking conviction. Ramirez-Ruiz, a 32-year-old Mexican citizen who was illegally in the United States when he was arrested on October 30, 2009, will be deported after he completes his prison sentence. He has been in federal custody since his arrest.
United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Ramirez-Ruiz was arrested after Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized more than 1200 gross grams of heroin from Ramirez-Ruiz’s residence in Albuquerque. According to the criminal complaint, on October 30, 2009, the DEA was conducting surveillance on Ramirez-Ruiz after determining that he was living in a residence on Copper Avenue NE frequented by a suspected heroin trafficker. DEA agents followed Ramirez-Ruiz from the residence to a Motel 6 on Avenida Cesar Chavez SE where they approached Ramirez-Ruiz. After initially providing a fake identification, Ramirez-Ruiz eventually provided his true name and admitted that he was a Mexican citizen who was illegally in the United States. Thereafter, Ramirez-Ruiz consented to a search of his residence on Copper Avenue NE and told the DEA agents that they would find drugs and a firearm in the residence. A search of the Copper Avenue NE residence uncovered three stashes of heroin weighing more than 1200 gross grams, and Ramirez-Ruiz was arrested.
On July 1, 2010, Ramirez-Ruiz entered a guilty plea to a one-count information charging him with possession of more than 100 grams of heroin with intent to distribute under a plea agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office. In his plea agreement, Ramirez-Ruiz admitted that, on October 30, 2009, he consented to the DEA’s search of his residence and that he was the owner of the heroin found during the search of his residence. He also admitted telling the DEA that he had a firearm in the closet of his bedroom and that the firearm was seized by the DEA during the search of his residence.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John C. Anderson and was investigated by the DEA.
(Download Criminal Complaint 
)