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Press Release

Caldwell Man Sentenced to Over 21 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Distribute Methamphetamine in Idaho

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

BOISE – Ray Perales, 43, of Caldwell, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 262 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.  A federal grand jury indicted Perales on September 14, 2017, and he later pleaded guilty on July 13, 2018.  Perales was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David C. Nye.

 According to court records, investigators received information in July 2017 that Perales was distributing large amounts of methamphetamine.  On July 19, 2017, Perales was arrested for violating his parole.  At the time of his arrest, he had a loaded pistol and over $13,000.  On August 9, 2017, investigators searched Perales’ mobile home in Homedale, Idaho.  During the search, investigators found approximately five pounds of methamphetamine, a digital scale, and $18,231.  Perales’ co-defendant, Ricardo Renteria-Castillo, was also in the mobile home.

Perales has a lengthy criminal history with at least four prior felony convictions, including distributing controlled substances.  At the time he committed this offense, he was on parole for attempted strangulation.  Because of his criminal history, he faced a sentence of at least twenty years in prison.

 Perales’ co-defendant, Renteria-Castillo, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.  He is scheduled for sentencing on December 6, 2018 before Judge Nye at the Federal Courthouse in Boise.  That crime is punishable by at least 10 years up to life in prison.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Nampa Police Department, Caldwell Police Department, and the Idaho Department of Probation and Parole.  The following law enforcement agencies also participated in the search of the mobile home in Homedale: Homedale Police Department, Boise Police Department, Valley County Sheriff’s Office, Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, Ada County Sheriff’s Office, and the Mini Cassia Drug Task Force.

This indictment is the result of a joint investigation by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which includes the cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.

Contact

Cassie Fulghum
Public Information Officer
(208) 334-1211

Updated October 4, 2018

Topic
Drug Trafficking
Component