California Man, Courier for Mexico-based Drug Trafficking Organization, Sentenced to Imprisonment for Fourteen Years

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that on March 1, 2019, United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced John F. Haller III to a term of imprisonment of 168 months, to be served in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.  Haller, 51, of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. 

In July of 2017, Haller delivered approximately 50 pounds of methamphetamine on behalf of a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization to another defendant at a gas station in Gretna, Nebraska.  The methamphetamine was intended for distribution in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metropolitan area.  One month later, in August of 2017, a Summit County, Utah, Sheriff’s Deputy stopped a pickup truck heading east toward Omaha on Interstate 15.  Haller was a passenger in the truck.  Officers searched the vehicle and recovered a garbage bag containing approximately 10 pounds of methamphetamine.  At the time of the traffic stop, Haller claimed the methamphetamine and admitted he made additional trips and deliveries on behalf of the organization.

Haller was indicted federally in Utah and in Nebraska, but the Utah case was transferred to the District of Nebraska for disposition.

The case was primarily investigated by the Omaha Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations.