HONDURAN NATIONAL SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS FOR
ROLE IN CROSS COUNTRY DRUG CONSPIRACY AND
ILLEGAL REENTRY TO THE U.S. AFTER BEING DEPORTED

PRESS RELEASE

Susan W. Brooks, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced that FAUSTO NUNEZ-CRUZ, 30, Honduras, was sentenced to 25 years (300 months) imprisonment today by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker following his conviction at trial January 31, 2007 for Conspiracy to Possess With the Intent to Distribute and/or Distribution of Methamphetamine. NUNEZ-CRUZ was also convicted on April 16, 2007, of Illegal Reentry into the United States After Deportation for an Aggravated Felony, following a separate jury trial.

These cases were the result of a nine-month multi-agency investigation that was conducted by the Indianapolis Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Indiana State Police Drug Enforcement Section, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

In early 2004, DEA agents discovered an Indianapolis-based drug trafficking organization that obtained large amounts of pure methamphetamine from California and Arizona. The methamphetamine was transported into the Indianapolis area in vehicles with sophisticated, hidden compartments, and then further distributed throughout the area. As a part of this conspiracy, 3.374 kilograms of pure methamphetamine was seized in the hidden compartment of a vehicle on Interstate 74 near Crawfordsville, Indiana. Not only was NUNEZ-CRUZ one of the drug conspirators, but he had also returned to this country, after being deported, having previously been convicted here of an aggravated felony.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Barry D. Glickman, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Barker also imposed 10 years supervised release following NUNEZ-CRUZ’s release from imprisonment, if NUNEZ-CRUZ is not deported to his native country of Mexico.

20070608.Nunez-Cruz.dt.wpd

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