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Press Release

Jose Gonzalez-Martinez Sentenced on Methamphetamine Charge

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Virginia
Conviction is Part of Broader Plan to Fight Flow of Meth into Greater Charlottesville

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – A Charlottesville man who was convicted as part of a law enforcement initiative targeting individuals trafficking methamphetamine into the greater Charlottesville area, was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced today.

Jose Alfredo Gonzalez-Martinez, 32, of Charlottesville, Va., was arrested on a federal criminal complaint in late March and pled guilty in April to one count of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Today in the District Court, Gonzalez-Martinez was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by deportation.

Two other men, Alfonso Lopez-Rios and John Mark Fisher were previously convicted and sentenced to federal prison as part of the conspiracy. Lopez-Rios was sentenced to 58 months in federal prison and Fisher was sentenced 132 months.

“Methamphetamine is often a drug that leads to other criminal behavior, acts such a domestic abuse, property crime, violence, things that destroy families and communities,” United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said today. “It is paramount that we continue to work with our partners in law enforcement in manners such as this to slow the spread of this deadly and addictive substance.”

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh, Gonzalez-Martinez sold distribution-sized quantities in the Charlottesville area.

Gonzalez-Martinez, Lopez-Rios and Fisher were prosecuted as part of Operation Ice Storm, a multi-agency operation headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration and in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The operations’ goal is to target larger distributors and traffickers of methamphetamine into Charlottesville and surrounding areas.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh prosecuted the case for the United States.

Updated July 11, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking