Salvadoran national sentenced to five years after being caught with over a kilogram of cocaine

RICHMOND, Va. – A Salvadoran national was sentenced to five years in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

According to court documents, from Feb. 6, 2025, to April 29, 2025, law enforcement conducted three controlled purchases of a total of over 167 grams of cocaine from José Mauricio Rivas-Portillo, 33. On July 17, 2025, as Rivas-Portillo was returning from Burlington, North Carolina, to his residence in Spotsylvania, a Virginia State Trooper stopped Rivas-Portillo in Spotsylvania County for a traffic violation. After a drug detection canine alerted to the presence of narcotics in Rivas-Portillo’s vehicle, a search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of a bag containing cocaine on the driver side floorboard and one kilogram of cocaine on the passenger side floorboard. Rivas-Portillo was in possession of $1,936 in drug proceeds.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia L. Norman prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:25-cr-150.

This release was revised on May 7, 2026, to correct the case number.