United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

BROTHERS SENTENCED TO LENGTHY FEDERAL PRISON
SENTENCES FOR METH DISTRIBUTION

FORT WORTH, Texas – Fort Worth brothers, Rafael Gonzalez and Umberto Gonzalez, who admitted possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, were sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means to lengthy prison sentences, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas.

Rafael Gonzalez, 29, was sentenced to 264 months (22 years) in prison and Umberto Gonzalez, 28, was sentenced to 235 months (nearly 20 years) in prison. Umberto Gonzalez is a member of the Tango Blast prison gang. Co- defendant Marcos Abel Antonetty, 22, was sentenced to 108 months (nine years) in prison. All pled guilty earlier this year to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Co-defendant Maria Isabel Cruz-Tamez, 28, pled guilty to the same charge and is scheduled to be sentenced on January 28, 2008.

In April 2007, the defendants were involved in attempting to sell a confidential source approximately five pounds of methamphetamine for $10,600 a pound. On April 26, 2007, after observing Rafael Gonzales and Umberto Gonzalez take a white plastic sack into a room at Budget Suites in Grand Prairie, law enforcement executed a state search warrant in one of the rooms and found Rafael and Umberto Gonzalez, Antonetty and Cruz-Tamez. On a table in the room was a white plastic bag containing two tupperware containers of methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, and the Fort Worth Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Wolfe.

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