Young Laredo Woman Sentenced for Conspiracy to Import Multiple Drugs

LAREDO, Texas – A 19-year-old Laredo woman has been ordered to federal prison following her conviction of conspiracy to import methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin from Mexico, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick. Valeria Yazmin Santos-Perez pleaded guilty April 25, 2018. 

Today, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia-Marmolejo handed Santos-Perez a 60-month sentence to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. Before sentencing Santos-Perez, the court asked her if she had given any thought to the harm that would be caused by bringing a large quantity of narcotics into the United States.  Santos-Perez admitted she had not given that any thought

At the time of her plea, Santos-Perez admitted to driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV across the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge with bundles of narcotics hidden beneath the center console and beneath the floorboards of the vehicle. She said she had smuggled narcotics in a similar manner once previously and was paid $6,000 to drive the vehicle to Fort Worth.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents spent several hours extracting all the narcotics from the vehicle. The total included nine bundles of cocaine with a gross weight of 9.54 kilograms, two bundles of brown heroin with a gross weight of 1.22 kilograms, five bundles of black tar heroin with a gross weight of 1.16 kilograms and 168 bundles of methamphetamine with a gross weight of 19.04 kilograms.

She has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and CBP conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bukiewicz is prosecuting the case.