Albuquerque Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Trafficking Methamphetamine in Lea County

ALBUQUERQUE – Michael Asa Boyd, 40, of Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 60 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine in Lea County, N.M.

Boyd was arrested in Hobbs, N.M., on Feb. 20, 2015, after law enforcement officers seized 174 grams of methamphetamine, 110 grams of marijuana, 70 grams of heroin, drug paraphernalia and a handgun from the vehicle Boyd was driving.

On April 27, 2015, Boyd pled guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.  In entering his guilty plea, Boyd admitted that on Feb. 20, 2015, officers found 174 grams of methamphetamine, 70 grams of heroin and a firearm in the rental car he was driving.  Boyd also admitted that he intended to distribute the methamphetamine and heroin in Hobbs.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA, the Lea County Drug Task Force and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terri J. Abernathy of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

The HOPE Initiative is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center that is partnering with the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative with the overriding goal of reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in the District of New Mexico.  The HOPE Initiative comprised of five components:  (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning.  The law enforcement component of the HOPE Initiative 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 trafficking organizations for investigation and prosecution is a priority of the HOPE Initiative.

The Lea County Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Lea County Sheriff’s Office, Hobbs Police Department, Lovington Police Department, Eunice Police Department the Tatum Police Department and the Jal Police Department, and is part of the NM HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force.  The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.  HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.