Inmate Pleads Guilty to Heroin Trafficking Inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Downtown San Diego

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced today that Kirk Borja pled guilty in federal court in San Diego before United States Magistrate Judge Jan M. Adler to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it.

Borja was originally indicted on the methamphetamine trafficking charge following his arrest in January 2012 as part of Operation Carnalismo, an investigation into the Mexican Mafia gang and affiliated associates conducted by the Violent Crime Task Force-Gang Group (VCTF-GG), a group of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Since his arrest, Borja has been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), a federal detention facility in downtown San Diego. Borja admitted in his plea to possessing the heroin inside the MCC with the intent to distribute it to other inmates. According to his plea, Borja concealed the heroin inside his body before being discovered by the Bureau of Prison’s Special Investigative Supervisor unit.

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy praised the VCTF-GG for marshaling the evidence of Borja’s methamphetamine trafficking that led to his arrest, as well as the work of the investigators at the MCC and the FBI’s Violent Crime squad who assisted with the investigation inside the detention facility. “This prosecution illustrates our commitment, and that of our law enforcement partners, to protect not only our streets but our jails as well,” Duffy said. “Dangerous, addictive drugs like methamphetamine and heroin hurt any community that suffers their presence, whether it be a local neighborhood or one of our detention facilities.”

Borja’s plea is subject to final acceptance by United States District Judge Anthony J. Battaglia. Sentencing for Borja was set for September 27 at 9 a.m. before Judge Battaglia.

Defendant in Case Number 12CR0291-AJB

Kirk Borja
Age: 41

Summary of Charges

Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841/846-Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine
Maximum penalty: 40 years in prison

Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841-Possession of heroin with the intent to distribute
Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison

Investigating Agencies

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Chula Vista Police Department
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
National City Police Department
San Diego Police Department
San Diego County District Attorney’s Office
U.S. Bureau of Prisons
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
San Diego County Probation Department
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations
Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations