Dallas man sentenced to 40 years for distributing meth
DALLAS - A Dallas man will spend the next 40 years in a federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing methamphetamine.
What we know:
Federal prosecutors said Orlando Gerardo Mejia-Mendoza pleaded guilty in June to possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Last week, a judge sentenced him to 480 months or 40 years in federal prison.
Dig deeper:
According to court records, Mejia-Mendoza received multiple shipments of liquid meth from Mexico in 2023. Some of those shipments contained as much as 25 kilograms of liquid meth, for which Mejia-Mendoza paid $1,800 per kilogram.
He had an apartment that he used as a lab to convert the drug from its liquid to crystal form. In a second apartment, agents found guns and cash, the court documents state.
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What they're saying:
Law enforcement officials said the case was part of the Department of Homeland Security crackdown on criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational drug and human trafficking operations in the United States.
"Ejecting transnational drug traffickers from our streets is critical to protecting North Texas," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould.
"The sentence of Mr. Mejia-Mendoza sends clear message to drug traffickers that they will be held accountable for the distribution of poisonous drugs and violence in North Texas," added Joseph B. Tucker, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Dallas Division.
"This lengthy sentence is another success for the Dallas Homeland Security Task Force. Our collective effort resulted in a member of a transnational criminal organization being held accountable for trafficking narcotics into the Dallas area," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.
What we don't know:
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas shared photos of evidence inside Mejia-Mendoza’s apartments but did not share his mugshot.
The Source: The information in this story comes from a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.