ALBUQUERQUE - Kyle Marshall Hogue, 29, of El Paso, Texas, was ordered detained pending trial after a U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Las Cruces, N.M., found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging him with a cocaine trafficking offense. The charge against Hogue arises out of the seizure of nearly eleven pounds of cocaine at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in southern New Mexico on Feb. 27, 2018.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Hogue on Feb. 27, 2018, after allegedly seizing approximately 4.85 kilograms (10.7 pounds) of cocaine concealed in Hogue’s vehicle. According to the criminal complaint, the agents allegedly found the cocaine in Hogue’s vehicle during an inspection at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint located on Interstate 25 in Dona Ana County, N.M.
If convicted of the charges in the criminal complaint, Hogue faces a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum of 40 years 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 U.S. Border Patrol and the Las Cruces office of the DEA. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander B. Shapiro 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
