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Press Release

Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Prescription Drug Trafficking Charge

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico
Case Prosecuted as Part of HOPE Initiative which Seeks to Reduce the Number of Opioid-Related Deaths in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Stetson Holliday, 23, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to a prescription drug trafficking charge.

The DEA arrested Holliday on Jan. 16, 2018, on a criminal complaint charging him with distributing prescription drugs.  According to the criminal complaint, Holliday distributed approximately ten Xanax (Alprazolam) tablets to an undercover DEA Special Agent on Nov. 30, 2016.

Holliday was indicted on Feb. 14, 2018, and was charged with distributing a Schedule IV controlled substance, alprazolam, on Nov. 30, 2016, in Bernalillo County, N.M.  During today’s proceedings, Holliday pled guilty to the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement. 

At sentencing, Holliday faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.  A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the DEA and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter J. Eicker as part of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.  The HOPE Initiative was launched in January 2015 by the UNM Health Sciences Center and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in response to the national opioid epidemic, which has had a disproportionately devastating impact on New Mexico.  Opioid addiction has taken a toll on public safety, public health and the economic viability of our communities.  Working in partnership with the DEA, the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative, Healing Addiction in our Community (HAC), the Albuquerque Public Schools and other community stakeholders, HOPE’s principal goals are to protect our communities from the dangers associated with heroin and opioid painkillers and reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in New Mexico. 

The HOPE Initiative is comprised of five components:  (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning.  HOPE’s law enforcement component is led by the Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA in conjunction with their federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners.  Targeting members of major heroin and opioid trafficking organizations for investigation and prosecution is a priority of the HOPE Initiative.  Learn more about the New Mexico HOPE Initiative at http://www.HopeInitiativeNM.org.

Updated May 18, 2018

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Prescription Drugs