Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that ERNESTO MORENO, age 26, of San Fernando, California, pled guilty yesterday to one count of a methamphetamine drug conspiracy that included the shipping of methamphetamine from California into Louisiana via the United States Postal Service.
According to court documents, in September 2014, agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating possible mailings of methamphetamine into the Eastern District of Louisiana. Investigators determined that MORENO was the source of methamphetamine for over eighteen narcotic packages that were shipped into Louisiana with the aid of co-conspirators.
Meanwhile, an investigation in Nashville, Tennessee, revealed that MORENO was directly shipping numerous packages of methamphetamine into the Middle District of Tennessee.
MORENO faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum sentence of life in prison, at least 5 years of supervised release after the term of imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000,000, and a mandatory special assessment of $100 for the count to which he pled guilty. U.S. District Court Judge Kurt Engelhardt will sentence MORENO on Sept. 13, 2017.
Acting U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Louisiana State Police, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, the Santa Monica Police Department, and the Los Angeles Police Department in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys James S. C. Baehr, Ryan McLaren, and Matthew Payne are in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
