Lewiston Drug Trafficker Pleads Guilty
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 12, 2011 |
COEUR D’ALENE—Adolfo Bautista Ascencio, 37, of Lewiston, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
According to the plea agreement, beginning around November 2009, Ascencio and his co-conspirators began distributing methamphetamine in the Lewiston, Idaho, area. Ascencio admitted that he and his co-conspirators made trips to Washington state to purchase methamphetamine and stored the drugs in a Lewiston area self-storage center. The government estimates that Ascencio and others bought and sold drugs at a street value of over $200,000. In addition to the drugs, over $100,000 in United States Currency and checks was seized from the defendants during the investigation.
The charge carries a maximum punishment of up to life in prison, a fine up to $10 million, and at least five years’ supervised release.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 3, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Idaho State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.