DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of New Mexico

For Immediate Release

Thursday, October 26, 2017
James D. Tierney
, United States Attorney
Contact: Elizabeth M. Martinez

Mexican National Sentenced to Five Years for Federal Drug Trafficking and Illegal Re-Entry Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Rogelio Delgado, 25, a Mexican national illegally residing in Roswell, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 60 months in prison for his conviction on methamphetamine trafficking and illegally re-entry charges. Delgado will be deported after completing his prison sentence.

 

Delgado was arrested on Nov. 17, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of a firearm by an illegal alien and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Nov. 16, 2016, in Chaves County, N.M.  According to the complaint, law enforcement officers seized 4.05 pounds of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a handgun and ammunition during the execution of a search warrant at Delgado’s residence.

 

On April 14, 2017, Delgado pled guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and re-entry of a removed alien.  In entering the guilty plea, Delgado admitted that on Nov. 16, 2016, law enforcement officers found approximately 1.8 kilograms of methamphetamine in his residence while executing a search warrant, and acknowledged that it was his intention to sell the drugs to others.  Delgado also admitted that he was a citizen of Mexico without any legal right to be present in the United States and previously had been removed from the United States on June 13, 2013.

 

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Chaves County Metro Narcotics Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John Balla prosecuted 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.

 

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Phoenix Field Division