United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

DALLAS MAN SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON,
WITHOUT PAROLE, FOR DRUG AND FIREARMS CONVICTIONS

DALLAS — A Dallas man, Jose Nino, who sold narcotics to an undercover Dallas Police officer in November 2006, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to 96 months (eight years) in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Nino, 23, pled guilty in August 2007 to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and distribution of cocaine. He will be deported to Mexico after his release from federal prison.

On November 8, 2006, an undercover officer and another individual arrived at Nino’s home on Ferguson Road in Dallas, and Nino arrived shortly thereafter. Nino entered the room and threw a large, rock, brick-like substance in a plastic baggie at the undercover officer. The undercover officer purchased the substance, which was cocaine, from Nino for $575. The following day the undercover officer and another individual again went to Nino’s residence, where Nino led the officer into his bedroom where he had a large ziplock bag containing a white crystalline substance, methamphetamine, next to a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol on his bed. Nino admitted that the firearm was his and that he used it to protect his drug trade. Nino sold the officer a baggie of methamphetamine for $850.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office under the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, a nationwide effort targeting gun crime

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Dallas Police Department and the ATF HIDTA task force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Konig prosecuted the case.

###