Mexican National Pleads Guilty To Distribution Of Methamphetamine And An Immigration Offense

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Jose Jesus Navarro-Rios, a.k.a. “La Daga,” a Mexican National illegally residing in Lancaster, Ky., has pled guilty to three counts of distributing more than 500 grams of Methamphetamine and to unlawfully reentering the United States after previously being deported.

In his guilty plea, Navarro-Rios admitted that, on three occasions in the Spring of 2018, he sold methamphetamine in excess of 500 grams, to a cooperating witness for law enforcement.  During the course of the joint federal and state investigation, law enforcement agents seized more than 12 pounds of methamphetamine, worth more than $125,000.  Navarro-Rios admitted that he was unlawfully present in the United States, after being deported for a prior federal conviction for unlawfully reentering the United States, in 2013.

Robert M. Duncan Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Angela L. Byers, FBI Cincinnati; Amy Hess, FBI Louisville; Kristoffer Cortex, Acting Assistant Field Office Director, ICE; and Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the guilty plea.

The investigation was conducted by FBI, KSP and ICE.  The United States was represented in the case by Assistant United States Attorney Roger W. West.

Navarro-Rios is currently scheduled to appear for sentencing, in Lexington, on November 2, 2018, at 1:00 p.m.  Navarro-Rios faces a prison sentence of not less than ten years nor more than Life imprisonment.  However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.