California Man Sentenced for Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that on September 14, 2018, Alberto Giovanni Zamora, 34, of Oxnard, California, was sentenced to 10 years (120 months) in prison for possession with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of a mixture or substance containing heroin.  Following the prison term, Zamora will serve five years on supervised release.

On August 25, 2017, a Seward County Sheriff’s Sergeant patrolling I-80 stopped a car driven by Zamora’s co-defendant, Juan Jesus Nava, for following too closely. Zamora was the passenger and owner of the car. Both Nava and Zamora gave verbal consent to search. During a search of the car, 15 packages of heroin, weighing approximately 24 ½ pounds, (approximately 11 kilograms), were found.  Photos were obtained which showed Zamora driving the car across the border into the United States from Mexico on August 22, 2017. 

Nava pled guilty to misprision of a felony for failing to notify Seward County deputies that Zamora was transporting heroin.  Nava was sentenced in May of 2018 to 27 months in prison.

This case was investigated by the Seward County Sheriff’s Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration, (DEA).