Defendant Prosecuted as Part of HOPE Initiative which Seeks to Reduce the Number of Opioid-Related Deaths in New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE - Cheryl Ann Gruette, 51, of Roswell, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to a heroin trafficking charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gruette and her co-defendant Cecil Edward Sexton, 73, also of Roswell, were arrested on June 16, 2015, on a criminal complaint charging them with heroin trafficking offenses. According to the complaint, on Jan. 2, 2015, the Chaves County Metro Narcotics Task Force executed a state search warrant on Sexton’s vehicle and residence in Roswell and seized 273.6 grams of heroin, $1,352.00 in cash, pill bottles, prescription slips in Sexton’s name, drug paraphernalia and two rifles.
Gruette and Sexton were subsequently indicted on Sept. 16, 2015, and charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin from Sept. 25, 2014 through Jan. 2, 2015, and possession of heroin with intent to distribute on Jan. 2, 2015. The indictment alleged that the pair committed the crimes in Chaves County, N.M.
During today’s plea hearing, Gruette pled guilty to a felony information charging her with conspiracy to possess heroin with intent to distribute. Gruette admitted that on Jan. 2, 2015, she and Sexton traveled to Albuquerque, N.M., where they obtained 179.3 grams of heroin from their source of supply, and then returned to Roswell. Gruette further acknowledged that, after they returned to Roswell, officers found the heroin while executing a state search warrant in addition to another 94.3 grams of heroin that were in Sexton’s residence. Gruette and Sexton intended to distribute the heroin to others.
Sexton pled guilty to similar charges on Nov. 13, 2015. At sentencing, Gruette and Sexton each face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison followed by not less than three years of supervised release. Both remain in custody pending sentencing hearings which have yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA, the Chaves County Metro Narcotics Task Force and the Roswell Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna R. Wright of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The HIDTA Chaves County Metro Narcotics Task Force is comprised of investigators from the Roswell Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and the Chaves County Sherriff’s Office. 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.
This case is being prosecuted pursuant to the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative. The HOPE Initiative is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center that is partnering with the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative with the overriding goal of reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in the District of New Mexico. The HOPE Initiative comprised of five components: (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning. The law enforcement component of the HOPE Initiative is led by the Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA in conjunction with their federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners. Targeting members of major heroin and opioid trafficking organizations for investigation and prosecution is a priority of the HOPE Initiative.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
