LEXINGTON, Ky. - A Los Angeles, CA. man, Adalberto Pineda Santos, 50, was sentenced in federal court last Friday to 162 months in prison, before U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom, for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and conspiracy to launder money.
According to his plea agreement, Santos admitted that he conspired with others to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine in Fayette County. Santos admitted that he would fly into the United States from Mexico to oversee the collection of money from the sale of cocaine and to distribute loads of cocaine at the direction of other co-conspirators. In the plea agreement, Santos admitted that couriers were used to transport drugs into Fayette County for distribution and to transport drugs out of Fayette County to locations in Colorado. In total, Santos admitted that the total amount of drugs attributable to him is 5 to 15 kilograms of cocaine.
Santos pleaded guilty in March 2020.
Under federal law, Santos must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for five years.
Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; J.T. Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Louisville Field Division; and Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was conducted by DEA and IRS. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Bradbury.
The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.
The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
