Rexburg Man Sentenced for Distributing Meth and Unlawfully Possessing Firearms
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 04, 2014 |
POCATELLO, ID—Noe Munguia-Diaz, a/k/a Juan Ernesto Medina-Munguia, 35, of Rexburg, Idaho, was sentenced today to 144 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for distributing methamphetamine and illegally possessing weapons, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. The Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr., Senior U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California, also ordered Munguia-Diaz to pay a $900 special assessment and forfeit the firearms he unlawfully possessed.
On September 10, 2013, Judge Hatter found Munguia-Diaz guilty of six counts of distributing methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and two counts of unlawfully possessing firearms. He waived his right to trial by a jury in August 2013.
During the two-day trial, Judge Hatter heard evidence that Munguia-Diaz sold methamphetamine to other individuals on six occasions between March 23, 2011 and October 19, 2012. During one of the sales, Munguia-Diaz also sold a handgun. Judge Hatter also heard evidence that on March 4, 2013, when Munguia-Diaz was arrested, Rexburg Police officers found more than $4,500 in the possession of the defendant and his female passenger; evidence that Munguia-Diaz had deposited that day a total of $15,000 between two different banks; and a loaded handgun. A search warrant executed on Munguia-Diaz’s residence later that day recovered approximately one ounce of methamphetamine from a heating vent in the defendant’s bedroom. Munguia-Diaz admitted to officers that he had methamphetamine in his house and that the firearm in the car belonged to him.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance by Bingham Co. Sheriff’s Office, Blackfoot Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fremont Co. Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police, Jefferson Co. Sheriff’s Office, Rexburg Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).