Jerry Padilla, III Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Federal Narcotics Trafficking Convictions
Padilla, III Forfeits Interest in Residence and $441,008 in Cash
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 03, 2011 |
ALBUQUERQUE—Earlier today in federal court in Albuquerque, Jerry Padilla, III, 26, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for a cocaine trafficking conviction to be followed by an additional 18 months for a heroin trafficking conviction, for a total of 42 months of imprisonment. After completing his prison sentence, Padilla, III will be on supervised release for three years. Padilla, III also was ordered to forfeit his interest in the residential property located at 2121 Celeste Road SW in Albuquerque, as well as $441,008 in cash found buried in the residence’s back yard during execution of a federal search warrant in December 2009.
Padilla, III and his father, Jerry L. Padilla, Jr., 43, the alleged leaders of the Los Padillas Gang, were arrested on December 3, 2009 on a criminal complaint, and subsequently were indicted on December 16, 2009. According to the criminal complaint, Padilla, Jr., distributed cocaine to an informant who was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Albuquerque Police Department (APD) on three separate occasions in March 2009. Padilla, III participated in the third distribution. Padilla, III subsequently was charged with a heroin trafficking offense in a separate one-count indictment filed in March 2011. On May 12, 2011, Padilla, III pleaded guilty to the cocaine and heroin trafficking offenses.
His father, Padilla, Jr., pleaded guilty to three cocaine distribution counts on May 12, 2011, and was sentenced to a 74-month term of imprisonment on September 14, 2011. In a separate and unrelated case, Joseph Steven Padilla, the 21-year-old son of Padilla, Jr., and the brother of Padilla, III, entered a guilty plea to a heroin trafficking offense on August 24, 2011. Joseph Padilla is scheduled for sentencing on November 10, 2011.
United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that the cases against Padilla, III, Padilla, Jr., and Joseph Padilla were investigated by the FBI and APD with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the New Mexico State Police, and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, and are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joel R. Meyers and Nicholas J. Ganjei.