Hobbs Man Sentenced for Federal Methamphetamine Trafficking Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Antonio Acosta, 31, of Hobbs, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 84 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for his methamphetamine trafficking conviction.

Acosta was arrested on June 20, 2014, on a three-count indictment charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on April 5 and April 27, 2014, and being a felon in possession of a firearm on March 5, 2014.  According to the indictment, Acosta committed the three offenses in Lea County, N.M.

On Sept. 16, 2014, Acosta pled guilty to Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment and admitted that he possessed approximately 21.4 grams of methamphetamine on April 5, 2014 and approximately 8.8 grams of methamphetamine on April 27, 2014.  He further admitted that he intended to distribute the methamphetamine to others.

This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI, the Las Cruces offices of the DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Lea County Drug Task Force, and the Hobbs Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Terri J. Abernathy and Shaheen P. Torgoley of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

The Lea County Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Lea County Sheriff’s Office, Hobbs Police Department, Lovington Police Department, Eunice Police Department, the Tatum Police Department and the Jal Police Department, and is part of the HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force.  The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.  HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.