Woodland Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Firearms and Drug Offenses

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Israel Covarrubias, 29, of Woodland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and carrying a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, in 2017, Covarrubias and others sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant working for law enforcement. In 2018, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Covarrubias’s residence in Woodland. Covarrubias fled out the back door of the residence with a loaded Glock pistol and a pound of cocaine as law enforcement officers were entering the front door of the residence.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, the Woodland Police Department, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the California Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Lee prosecuted the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.