Mexican citizen sentenced to 5 years in prison for transporting methamphetamine near Monroe

MONROE, La. – United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Mexican national was sentenced Tuesday to 60 months in prison for possessing methamphetamine.

Jorge Alberto Morales-Villanueva, 22, of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to the October 10, 2017 guilty plea, a Louisiana State trooper stopped the van Morales-Villanueva was driving on March 5, 2017, which was traveling eastbound on Interstate 20 near Monroe. The trooper searched the vehicle and found a compartment underneath the front passenger seat that contained 19 packages containing a total of 26 pounds of methamphetamine. The defendant said he was paid $5,000 to transport the drug from Texas to Georgia.

Homeland Security Investigations and Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison D. Bushnell prosecuted the case.