Former Corrections Officer Sentenced to Federal Prison for Scheme to Smuggle Drugs into Otero County Prison

ALBUQUERQUE – Luis Delgadillo, 39, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 40 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his participation in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin into the Otero County Prison Facility (OCPF) in Chaparral, N.M.  Delgadillo was employed as a corrections officer at the OCPF when he committed the crime for which he was sentenced. 

Delgadillo was one of six individuals charged in April 2014, in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to violate the federal narcotics laws by smuggling controlled substances into the OCPF.  The other defendants charged with participating in the conspiracy were Anna Lopez, 26, of Albuquerque, N.M., Nancy Salas, 37, of Alamogordo, N.M., and three OCPF inmates, Eric Lovato, 32, of Boles Acres, N.M., and Armando Lopez, 29, and Gary Borja, 28, both of Albuquerque.  All six defendants subsequently were indicted on Aug. 20, 2014, and charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin from Dec. 2013 through April 26, 2014, in Otero County, N.M.

The FBI initiated an investigation into the case in Jan. 2014, after receiving information from the New Mexico Corrections Department showing that Delgadillo was smuggling heroin and methamphetamine into the OCPF.  The investigation, which included a review of recorded inmate telephone calls and OCPF surveillance video, physical surveillance and the results of inmate drug testing, identified the six defendants as members of a conspiracy who smuggled narcotics into the OCPF between Jan. 2014 and April 2014. 

On Nov. 19, 2014, Delgadillo entered a guilty plea and admitted participating in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the OCPF between Dec. 2013 and April 2014.  Delgadillo admitted smuggling an ounce of methamphetamine into the OCPF in Dec. 2013; an ounce of heroin in Feb. 2014; and another ounce of heroin in April 2014.  He also admitted that on April 26, 2014, he met with Ana Lopez and obtained 25 grams of methamphetamine, 11 grams of heroin and 10 suboxone pills from her. He was arrested before he was able to smuggle the drugs into the OCPF.

Delgadillo’s five co-defendants have entered guilty pleas to the indictment.  On June 24, 2015, Lopez was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.  Sentencing hearings for the four remaining co-defendants have yet to be scheduled. 

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the New Mexico Corrections Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Saltman of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

This case is being prosecuted pursuant to the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.  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.