ALBUQUERQUE - This morning, a U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Las Cruces, N.M., found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Eric Angel Estrada, 31, of Hobbs, N.M., with a cocaine trafficking offense. Estrada was remanded into custody pending trial, which has yet to be scheduled.
Estrada was arrested on June 22, 2017, on a criminal complaint charging him with possessing approximately six kilograms (13.2 pounds) of cocaine in Otero County, N.M. According to the complaint, Estrada was arrested after U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 54, allegedly seized five bundles containing approximately six kilograms of cocaine from Estrada’s vehicle.
If convicted of the charge in the criminal complaint, Estrada faces a statutory minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in federal prison. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and criminal defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by the Alamogordo station of the U.S. Border Patrol and the Las Cruces office of Homeland Security Investigations. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Clara Cobos of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
