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Press Release

Roswell Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Narcotics Trafficking Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Simon Nicholas Sais, 44, of Roswell, N.M., pleaded guilty this afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking charges.  The guilty plea was entered without the benefit of a plea agreement.

Sais was arrested on Oct. 22, 2014, on a criminal complaint charging him with distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine.  According to the complaint, between June 2013 and Aug. 2013, Sais sold approximately 359.4 grams of pure methamphetamine and approximately 43.5 grams of cocaine to an undercover agent working with the Lea County Drug Task Force (LCDTF) in Roswell and Hobbs, N.M.  Sais subsequently was charged on Jan. 14, 2015, in a six-count indictment charging him with distributing methamphetamine on five occasions between June 2013 and Aug. 213, and distributing cocaine in June 2013.

During today’s proceedings, Sais pled guilty to the indictment, admitting that between June 26 and Aug. 13, 2013, he distributed methamphetamine and cocaine throughout Lea County and Chaves County, N.M.

Sais has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.  At sentencing, Sais faces a mandatory minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in prison.

This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI and the Lea County Drug Task Force, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Lizarraga 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.

Updated February 24, 2015