ALBUQUERQUE - Albert Johnny Mondragon, 38, of Roswell, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 84 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine in Lea County, N.M.
Mondragon was arrested on federal charges in Roswell on May 27, 2014, based on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. According to the complaint, Mondragon committed the offense on March 7, 2014, in Hobbs, N.M.
Mondragon subsequently was charged on Oct. 7, 2014, in a two-count indictment with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
On Jan. 14, 2015, Mondragon pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. In entering the guilty plea, Mondragon admitted that he was stopped by officers in Hobbs on March 7, 2014, and the officers found approximately 222.98 grams of methamphetamine in the back of his vehicle.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces offices of the DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Lea County Drug Task Force, with assistance from the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terri J. Abernathy of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted this case.
The Lea County Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Lea County Sheriff’s Office, Hobbs Police Department, Lovington Police Department, Eunice Police Department and the Jal Police Department, and is part of the HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
