Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug and Immigration Charges

NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced today that on September 26, 2023, FERMIN DANIEL PUENTE-MONTOYA, age 32, pleaded guilty to a three-count bill of information charging him with violating the Federal Controlled Substances Act and Illegal Reentry of a Removed Alien.  

According to court documents, PUENTE-MONTOYA and two others, conspired to transport an amount of methamphetamine from Houston, Texas to Kenner, Louisiana.  PUENTE-MONTOYA furthered the conspiracy by transporting the methamphetamine from Houston to Kenner by personal vehicle.  In the course of doing so, he was pulled over by law enforcement in Kenner who observed him giving the methamphetamine to his co-conspirators.  Prior to this drug trafficking conspiracy, PUENTE-MONTOYA had been deported from the United States and reentered the country illegally. 

On Counts 1 and 2, conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, PUENTE-MONTOYA faces a maximum sentence of twenty years imprisonment, up to a $1,000,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.  For Count 3 that charges him with illegal reentry, PUENTE-MONTOYA faces up to two years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to one year of supervised release.  Each individual count also requires payment of a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at http://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

United States Attorney Evans praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Kenner Police Department.  The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Stuart Theriot of the Narcotics Unit.