ALBUQUERQUE - Andy Garcia, Jr., 45, of Deming, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M. to 120 months in prison for his conviction on a methamphetamine trafficking charge. Garcia will be on supervised release for five years after completing his prison sentence.
Andy Garcia was charged together with co-defendants Leslie Frank Williams, 53, and Domingo Rodriguez, 47, both of Deming, Oscar Garcia, 47, a Mexican national illegally in the United States, and Estella Aguilar, 46, of Tucson, Ariz., in a nine-count indictment filed on April 21, 2016. The indictment charged the defendants with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine from July 2015 through April 2016. The indictment also charged Williams with distributing methamphetamine on four occasions between Jan 2015 and Sept. 2015; Williams and Rodriguez with distributing methamphetamine in Nov. 2015; and Rodriguez, Oscar Garcia and Andy Garcia with possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Jan. 2016. The indictment also charged Rodriguez, Oscar Garcia and Aguilar with conspiring to commit money laundering offenses in Feb. 10, 2016; and Aguilar with money laundering on Feb. 10, 2016. The indictment charged the defendants with committing the crimes in Luna County, N.M., and included forfeiture allegations requiring the defendants to forfeit $1,000,000 to the United States.
On Oct. 4, 2016, Andy Garcia pled guilty to a felony information charging him with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. In entering the guilty plea, Andy Garcia admitted that on Jan. 4, 2016, he traveled by bus from Deming to California to pick up two pounds of methamphetamine. Andy Garcia further admitted that on Jan. 6, 2016, law enforcement agents seized his bag, which contained the methamphetamine, while he was on the bus returning to Deming.
Andy Garcia’s four co-defendants previously have entered guilty pleas and two have been sentenced. Oscar Garcia pled guilty on Oct. 7, 2016, and was sentenced on April 10, 2018 to 15 years in prison; he will be deported following his prison sentence. Aguilar pled guilty on Nov. 3, 2016, and was sentenced on April 13, 2017, to time served followed by one year of supervised release. Rodriguez pled guilty on Sept. 13, 2016, and Williams pled guilty on Sept. 20, 2016. Sentencing hearings for Rodriguez and Williams have yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of Homeland Security Investigations and the Luna County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark A. Saltman and Dustin C. Segovia of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
