Longtime Fugitive Sentenced for Methamphetamine Charge

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that on January 30, 2020, Mario Trejo Flores, 45, of Lincoln, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison by Senior United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and 10 years in prison for failure to appear.  Those sentences will be served concurrently (at the same time).  There is no parole in the federal system.  Following the prison terms, Trejo Flores will serve four years on supervised release.  However, he is likely to be deported to Mexico upon completion of his prison sentence.  Trejo Flores was also ordered to forfeit $611.00 to the United States of America and pay $200 in special assessments (court costs).

On November 7, 2010, Lincoln narcotics officers conducting surveillance on the residence of a known drug dealer saw Trejo Flores leave that location in a pickup truck.  Trejo Flores was stopped for a traffic infraction.  Upon contact with officers, he refused to obey officers’ commands and show his hands.  After a scuffle with officers, Trejo Flores was searched, and officers found a small amount of methamphetamine in a cigarette pack and a box-cutter knife in his pockets.  Officers found approximately 10 grams of pure methamphetamine, multiple baggies, a digital scale, suspected drug transaction records and $611 in cash in the pickup.

Trejo Flores pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine in September of 2011.  He was scheduled for sentencing on December 16, 2011, but he failed to appear.  In May of 2012, an additional charge of failure to appear was filed.  Trejo Flores remained a fugitive for almost eight years until his arrest on October 9, 2019. 

This case was investigated by the Lincoln/Lancaster County Drug Task Force and the United States Marshals Service.