ALBUQUERQUE - Acting U.S. Attorney James D. Tierney, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Texas, and Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales, III, announced today that a federal judge has sentenced an Albuquerque-based methamphetamine trafficker with ties to the Sinaloa cartel to a 324-month term of imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release. Sandra Cook, 53, was sentenced based on her conviction by jury verdict on methamphetamine trafficking charges following a three-day trial in May 2017.
Cook was arrested on Feb. 24, 2016, on an indictment charging her with possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute on June 30, 2015. The indictment was superseded on Feb. 28, 2017, to add another offense charging Cook with possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Feb. 24, 2016. Cook’s trial on the two-count superseding indictment began on May 8, 2017, and concluded on May 11, 2017, when the jury returned a guilty verdict against Cook on both counts.
The trial testimony established that on June 30, 2015, officers of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) seized multiple bundles of methamphetamine weighing approximately 3.2 kilograms (7.2 pounds) and over $22,000 in cash when they executed a search warrant at Cook’s residence. Following the filing of federal charges against Cook, she became a federal fugitive. In Feb. 2016, HSI used a court-authorized GPS tracker and data from Cook’s cell phone to locate Cook at a residence in Albuquerque. On Feb. 24, 2016, HSI and BSCO executed a search warrant at the residence where they located Cook standing near a kitchen table on which an open tool bag was sitting. The tool bag contained her driver’s license and a bag containing 441.6 grams of 100% pure methamphetamine.
This case was investigated by HSI and BCSO and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander M. Uballez and Peter J. Eicker.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
