SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - California, Eastern), published as received.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Vicente Velazquez was sentenced today to 17 and a half years in prison by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, Velazquez and nine others were indicted on drug trafficking charges in 2016 after a two-year wiretap investigation. Velazquez was the leader of the drug trafficking organization who ordered methamphetamine from a supplier in Mexico and then coordinated the distribution of methamphetamine through sub-distributors. Velazquez is the last of the 10 defendants to be sentenced. The following co-defendants were previously sentenced.
Roberto Aguilar Navarro, 11 years 3 months in prison on Nov. 15, 2019;
Pedro Fuentes, 10 years in prison on Jan. 24, 2019;
Luis Alberto Fernandez Contreras, 4 years and 4 months in prison, on Sept. 7, 2017;
Arnulfo Sanchez, 4 years in prison on Aug. 17, 2017;
Jorge Vega-Macias, 4 years in prison on June 13, 2019;
Ivan Alcaraz, 4 years in prison on July 13, 2017;
Edwin Arambulo, 4 years in prison on Jan. 11, 2018;
Leonel Villa Lopez, 3 years and 10 months in prison on Oct. 12, 2017; and
Victor Hernandez-Sosa, 2 years in prison on Oct. 27, 2016.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Yuba-Sutter Narcotics Task Force, the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force, and the California Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Lee prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
