ALBUQUERQUE - Sammie Joe Peralta, 39, of Artesia, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 84 months in prison for his methamphetamine trafficking conviction. Peralta will be on supervised release for four years after completing his term of incarceration.
Peralta was arrested on May 8, 2015, on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Eddy County, N.M., on Jan. 20, 2015. On that day, the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force and the Probation and Parole Division of the New Mexico Corrections Department executed a search warrant on Peralta’s vehicle and seized approximately 280.84 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and a loaded handgun. Court records reflect that in Jan. 2015, Peralta had an active bench warrant for his arrest for absconding from supervision.
On Aug. 17, 2015, Peralta pled guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. In entering his guilty plea, Peralta admitted that on Jan. 20, 2015, he had an active bench warrant for his arrest for absconding from supervision. Peralta also admitted that on that day, a probation officer discovered approximately 280.84 grams of methamphetamine, which he intended to distribute to others, and a handgun in his vehicle.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA, the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force and the Probation and Parole Division of the New Mexico Corrections Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Selesia Lee Winston of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
The Pecos Valley Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, Carlsbad Police Department and Artesia 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
