San Angelo Man Who Controlled a Residence as a Multi-Pound Methamphetamine Stash Site Sentenced to 180 Months in Federal Prison

LUBBOCK, Texas — Benny T. Martinez, 37, of San Angelo, Texas, was sentenced this morning before Senior District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 180 months in federal prison following his guilty plea in December 2016, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Specifically, Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one count of convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Martinez has been in custody since the time of his arrest in October 2016.

“People like this do everything they can to destroy our communities and the people who live in them,” said U.S. Attorney Parker. “Our job is to raise the cost to them of doing their jobs, and we will aggressively do just that.”

According to plea documents filed in the case, on October 21, 2016, a search warrant was executed at the residence at 9209 Wilma Lane, San Angelo, Texas. Martinez was the only person at the residence. A thorough search of the residence revealed 2,188 grams of methamphetamine in the ceiling of the pantry, two .22 caliber rifles, $13,700.00 in cash, a vacuum sealer and vacuum sealing bags, a digital scale, and MSM, a common adulterant for methamphetamine. An additional 6,279 grams of methamphetamine was located buried on the north side of an outbuilding, in a small garden.

Further investigation revealed that before Martinez possessed the firearms mentioned, he had been convicted on May 1, 2009, in the 399th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, Texas, and was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for Possession of a Controlled Substance.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, the San Angelo Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Haag prosecuted.

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