Career Offender Sentenced To Nearly 18 Years In Federal Prison

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Raymond Estrada, 35, of Corpus Christi, has been ordered to serve a significant sentence following his conviction of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and the court’s finding that he was a career offender, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson today. He pleaded guilty Nov. 3, 2015.

Estrada was on serving a term of supervised release following a 2008 conviction at the time he committed the offense charges in this case involving 56 grams of cocaine base.

Today, Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack ordered he serve 188 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Estrada had been previously convicted of several felonies and was determined to be a career offender by the court. In addition, Judge Jack revoked Estrada’s supervised release on the 2008 conviction further ordered he serve an additional 24 months imprisonment, to run consecutively, for a total sentence of 212 months.   

On May 15, 2014, Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD) conducted a traffic stop on Estrada whom they believed was preparing to cook cocaine base. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for his residence in Corpus Christi, at which time they discovered a digital scale and packing materials on the kitchen table. They also found a knit cap in a chair that contained approximately 56 grams of crack cocaine. He was immediately arrested.

Estrada will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
 
The charge stems from an investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration and the CCPD’s Gang and Narcotics Units. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Watt is prosecuted the case.