Nogales Man Sentenced to Six Years for Cocaine Trafficking
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 27, 2011 |
TUCSON, AZ—Ernesto Castro, 39, of Nogales, Ariz., was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson to six years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and a violation of his previously imposed term of federal supervised release, following pleading guilty on June 13, 2011.
In December 2009, agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) learned of a potentially corrupt deputy sheriff serving in the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation revealed that Castro and his nephew, Jesus Rene Contreras, reached an agreement with another individual for Contreras to use his position as a deputy sheriff to transport cocaine past the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19. In return, Castro was to receive $1,000 and Contreras was to receive approximately $5,000. While this conspiracy was ongoing, Castro was serving a term of federal supervised release for a previous conviction for alien smuggling. On March 2, 2010, Contreras drove approximately 4.9 kilograms of cocaine past the Border Patrol checkpoint while in uniform and driving his official patrol vehicle. Contreras is set to be sentenced on December 13, 2011.
“When law enforcement officers choose to abuse their positions of trust and work for the drug cartels, they put our communities’ safety at risk,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Ann Birmingham Scheel. “I want to thank DHS and the FBI for their efforts to expose and root out this kind of corruption.”
“Acts of corruption by a law enforcement officer represent a threat to our nation and undermine the honest and hardworking officers who strive to maintain the integrity of the United States,” stated Paul Leonard, Special Agent in Charge, DHS-OIG, Tucson Field Office. “Corruption will not be tolerated and those who choose to break the law will be pursued aggressively by the OIG.”
The investigation in this case was conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of the Inspector General; and the FBI’s Southern Arizona Corruption Task Force. The prosecution was handled by Mary Sue Feldmeier and Robert A. Fellrath, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Tucson.
CASE NUMBER: CR-10-912-TUC-CKJ
RELEASE NUMBER: 2011-222(Castro)