El Paso Standard

A Nogales man has been sentenced to 120 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on charges of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute. This outcome follows an investigation by multiple agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Pima County Sheriff's Department, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

"Storing to distribute deadly drugs requires a person lacking a moral compass,” stated Francisco B. Burrola, ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge for Arizona. "HSI and our federal partners are committed to weeding out people that look to plague our communities with drugs, we will not stand for it. The defendant in this case will have a decade in prison to think of his actions that cost him his freedom.”

The defendant, Sergio Humberto Ramos, 73, admitted to storing methamphetamine at a trucking yard near Nogales until it was planned to be transported, for which he received payment.

This case is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Strike Force Initiative. This initiative establishes permanent multi-agency task force teams that operate collaboratively at a single location. The model aims to facilitate the collaboration of agents from various agencies on intelligence-driven operations that tackle significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Petermann from the District of Arizona, Tucson, managed the prosecution of this case.