ALBUQUEQUE - Louie Villegas, 48, of Desert Hot Springs, Calif., pleaded guilty this morning to a federal heroin trafficking charge. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Villegas will be sentenced to ten years in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.
Villegas was arrested on April 18, 2013, at the Greyhound Bus Station in Albuquerque, N.M., after DEA agents found more than a kilogram of heroin concealed in inside the inner soles of his tennis shoes. He subsequently was indicted and charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
During this morning’s proceedings, Villegas entered a guilty plea to the indictment and admitted that, while at the Greyhound bus station in Albuquerque on April 18, 2013, he had a consensual encounter with DEA agents and gave the agents permission to search him and his shoes for contraband. When Villegas handed his left shoe to the agents, it was abnormally heavy. Inside the inner sole of both shoes, the agents found approximately 1.3 kilograms of heroin.
Villegas has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Interdiction Unit of the Albuquerque office of the DEA and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn W.Y. Wang.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
