California Methamphetamine Dealer Sentenced to 31 Years Imprisonment for Nationwide Meth-In-The-Mail Conspiracy

Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that ERNESTO MORENO, age 26, of San Fernando, California, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to one count of a methamphetamine drug conspiracy that included the shipping of methamphetamine from California into Louisiana via the United States Postal Service.

U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt sentenced MORENO to 372 months, to be followed by seven years of supervised release, and $100 mandatory special assessment.

According to court documents, in September 2014, agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating possible mailings of methamphetamine into the Eastern District of Louisiana. Investigators determined that MORENO was the source of methamphetamine for over eighteen narcotic packages that were shipped into Louisiana with the aid of co-conspirators.

Meanwhile, an investigation in Nashville, Tennessee, revealed that MORENO was directly shipping numerous packages of methamphetamine into the Middle District of Tennessee. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Louisiana State Police, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, the Santa Monica Police Department, and the Los Angeles Police Department in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorneys James S. C. Baehr, Ryan McLaren, and Matthew Payne were in charge of the prosecution.