Morgan Hill Resident Sentenced To Over 16 Years In Prison In Connection With Methamphetamine Distribution Conspiracy

SAN JOSE – Fredi Becerril (a/k/a Ademar Becerril, a/k/a Pitufo) was sentenced today to 196 months in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag, Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge Tatum King, and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce Balzano.

According to the plea agreement, Becerril, 30, of Morgan Hill, was apprehended after law enforcement officers, pursuant to court orders, intercepted telephone conversations between Becerril and co-conspirators Arturo Cuevas-Quezadaz and Francisco Ortiz.  Becerril admitted in the plea agreement that on December 1, 2013, he met with Ortiz, Cuevas-Quezadaz, and other co-defendants, at 13805 Center Avenue, San Martin, Calif.  These men worked for Becerril and delivered methamphetamine to Becerril’s customers.   Becerril gave his co-conspirators handwritten lists of the customers who were to receive the drugs and the quantities of methamphetamine each customer was to receive.  After Cuevas-Quezadaz and Ortiz left to make their deliveries, Becerril received a warning that Cuevas-Quezadaz and another man had been arrested.  Becerril warned Ortiz about the arrests but directed him to complete certain additional deliveries.  When Cuevas-Quezadaz was arrested, the arresting officers found methamphetamine in his car.  The DEA laboratory analyzed the seized drugs and determined that the amount of actual (pure) methamphetamine in the seized drugs was 7,949 grams.  The DEA laboratory also discovered Becerril’s fingerprints on three of the packages of methamphetamine.

Becerril was arrested the next day, December 2, 2013.  At the time of his arrest, agents seized duplicates of the lists he had given to Cuevas-Quezadaz and Ortiz, as well as additional evidence, including $26,960.00 in cash that Ortiz had just delivered to Becerril.  Also, on December 2, 2013, a search warrant was executed at Becerril’s house in Morgan Hill.  In Becerril’s home, agents discovered a pistol, ammunition, a gold coin and an additional $195,605 in cash.

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte, U.S. District Judge. Judge Whyte also sentenced Becerril to a 5 year period of supervised release.  The defendant has been in federal custody since December 2, 2013.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, (OCDETF) a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.