El Paso Men Sentenced to Prison for Federal Cocaine Trafficking Convictions in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Two residents of El Paso, Tex., were sentenced in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., for convictions arising out of the seizure of six kilograms (13.2 pounds) of cocaine at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Alamogordo, N.M., in Oct. 2016. Ever Omar Valdez, 26, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and his co-defendant Javier Cruz, 27, was sentenced yesterday to 33 months in prison. Each will serve a two year term of supervised release after completing their prison sentences.

Valdez and Cruz were arrested in Oct. 2016, on a criminal complaint charging them with possessing approximately six kilograms of cocaine in Otero County, N.M. According to the complaint, Valdez and Cruz were arrested on Oct. 6, 2016, after U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Alamogordo seized approximately six kilograms of cocaine that was concealed in the vehicle in which Valdez and Cruz were traveling.

On Jan. 11, 2017, Valdez and Cruz each entered guilty pleas to a felony information charging them with conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. Valdez and Cruz each admitted that on Oct. 6, 2016, they entered the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 54 in a vehicle containing six kilograms of cocaine concealed inside the vehicle’s rear bumper, which was found by Border Patrol agents during a routine inspection. Valdez and Cruz admitted knowing that the cocaine was in the vehicle and that they intended to deliver the cocaine to others in exchange for money.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA and the U.S. Border Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Clara N. Cobos of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case.