ALBUQUERQUE - Eduardo Duran, Jr., 34, of Artesia, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 84 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his methamphetamine trafficking conviction.
Duran was arrested on May 6, 2015, on a criminal complaint alleging that he possessed methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Eddy County, N.M., on Feb. 9, 2015. According to the complaint, Pecos Valley Drug Task Force agents executed a search warrant at a residence in Carlsbad where they seized a large sum of cash, several packages of Suboxone, a small amount of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and approximately 780 grams of methamphetamine.
On Oct. 7, 2015, Duran pled guilty to a felony information charging him with conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute. In entering the guilty plea, Duran admitted that on Feb. 9, 2015, he possessed approximately 780 grams of methamphetamine which was seized by officers who executed a search warrant at his residence.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Saltman of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case.
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
