Thaindian News

PHOENIX, ARIZONA (BNO NEWS) – Two Mexican nationals were sentenced last Tuesday to a prison term of more than 20 years each for drug trafficking in Arizona, prosecutors said Thursday.

Mexican nationals Eleazar Gurrola-Iriarte, 32, of Culiacan, Sinaloa and Oscar Ruben Gonzalez-Lopez, 36, of La Llama, Sinaloa were sentenced to a 292-month term of imprisonment and a 210-month term of imprisonment, respectively.

Both men pleaded guilty in August 2009 to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

Gurrola-Iriarte was one of the leaders of a large methamphetamine trafficking organization with operations in Mexico and Phoenix, distributing large shipments of high-purity methamphetamine that were diluted after its arrival from Mexico.

Gonzalez-Lopez was responsible for supplying the drug to the organization’s delivery drivers that distributed the substance in the Phoenix area.

During their arrest, the traffickers and their co-conspirators were in possession of approximately 2.7 pounds of methamphetamine, four rifles, one shotgun, two handguns, and a bullet-proof vest, more than $75,000 in U.S. currency, scales, and multiple drug ledgers.

“These lengthy sentences will put two career criminals out of commission for a generation,” said Dennis K. Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. “This demonstrates our unending resolve to remove meth dealers in Arizona. We are grateful to the DEA for their excellent investigative work that led to these sentences.”

During the sentencing, the government alleged that Gurrola-Iriarte was a career criminal with a long history of run-ins with the law, going by approximately 10 different names, used three different dates of birth, and possessed multiple forged American identification documents. In 2001, he admitted that he had never known lawful employment.