Mexican National Sentenced to Nine Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Methamphetamine in San Juan County

ALBUQUERQUE – Pricilo Garcia-Jimenez, 41, a Mexican national from Oaxaca, Mexico, was sentenced this afternoon to 108 months in federal prison for his methamphetamine trafficking conviction.  Garcia-Jimenez will be deported after he completes his prison sentence.  The sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Dennis A. Ulrich, II, of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Texas, and Lt. Neil Haws, Director of the HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force.

Garcia-Jimenez, an undocumented alien illegally present in the United States, was arrested on May 22, 2012, on a criminal complaint alleging methamphetamine trafficking charges.  In July 2012, a five-count indictment was filed charging Garcia-Jimenez with distributing methamphetamine in San Juan County, N.M., on five separate occasions between Nov. 2011 and April 2012.

On Aug. 29, 2013, Garcia-Jimenez pled guilty to five methamphetamine distribution charges.  In his plea agreement, Garcia-Jimenez admitted distributing methamphetamine to an undercover officer on five separate occasions between Nov. 2011 and April 2012.  Specifically, Garcia Jimenez admitted distributing 69.4 grams of methamphetamine to the undercover agent on Nov. 30, 2011.  Garcia-Jimenez also admitted distributing more than five grams of methamphetamine to the undercover agent on Feb. 23, 2012, March 28, 2012, April 5, 2012 and April 29, 2012.  He further admitted distributing methamphetamine to others on Sept. 29, 2011, Oct. 19, 2011, Nov. 2, 2011 and Nov. 17, 2011.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of HSI and the HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

The Region II HIDTA Narcotics Task Force is comprised of officers from the Farmington Police Department, San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, Bloomfield Police Department and Aztec Police Department.  It is part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program which 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.