Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Transport Four Kilograms of Heroin into the United States

FRESNO, Calif. — Bertoldo Arellanes-Perez, 32, of Chihuahua, Mexico pleaded guilty today to conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute heroin, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, on Feb. 22, Arellanes-Perez and two other individuals traveled to the United States from Mexico with four kilograms of heroin. Before he traveled to the United States, Arellanes-Perez brokered the sale of the heroin in a series of phone calls. In the recent past, Arellanes-Perez transported narcotics to other locations in the United States, including Colorado.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee also assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Newman is prosecuting the case.

Arellanes-Perez is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd on Jan. 13, 2020. Arellanes-Perez faces a mandatory minimum 10 year sentence up to a lifetime terms, and a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.