ALBUQUERQUE - Brandy Lynn Matthewson, 38, of Roswell, N.M., pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to a methamphetamine trafficking charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Matthewson and her co-defendant Gilbert Nick Montes, 36, also of Roswell were arrested on May 24, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging them with conspiracy and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in March 2016, in Chaves County, N.M. According to the complaint, in March 2016, Matthewson was distributing methamphetamine on behalf of Montes, following Montes’ arrest on other methamphetamine trafficking charges.
During yesterday’s proceedings, Matthewson pled guilty to a felony information charging her with conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and admitted that she participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Chaves County between Nov. 2015 and March 2016, in Chaves County. At sentencing, Matthewson faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.
Montes was previously arrested in a separate case in Nov. 2015, and was indicted on March 8, 2016, on methamphetamine trafficking offenses. On Sept. 16, 2016, he pled guilty to that indictment and admitted receiving four pounds of methamphetamine, which he intended to distribute to others. At sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled, Montes faces a statutory minimum penalty of ten years and a maximum of life in federal prison.
While in custody on the aforementioned case, Montes was charged, together with Mathewson, with methamphetamine charges in this case. Montes has entered a not guilty plea to the charges in this case and remains in custody pending trial. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations, and criminal defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI and the Chaves County Metro Narcotics Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy M. Castellano of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The HIDTA Chaves County Metro Narcotics Task Force is comprised of investigators from the Roswell Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and the Chaves County Sherriff’s Office. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
