Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Wendell Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Gun Crime
BOISE – Sara Lee DeLaCruz, 34, of Wendell, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday to 12 months and one day in prison by Chief U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.
On August 2, 2017, DeLaCruz pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a firearm. On April 3, 2017, a person reported to police that DeLaCruz was in possession of marijuana and had been selling marijuana for several years. Law enforcement agents obtained a search warrant for DeLaCruz’s residence in Wendell. During the search of her residence, police found over three and one-half pounds of marijuana in a backpack along with a Hi-Point .40 caliber pistol. Police also found a digital scale in the bedroom. DeLaCruz admitted that the marijuana and firearm were hers. DeLaCruz was prohibited from possessing the firearm because she had previously been convicted of the felony crime of transporting an illegal alien in United States District Court in the Southern District of Texas on November 17, 2005.
Judge Winmill also ordered DeLaCruz to serve three years of supervised release upon her release from federal prison.
The case was investigated by the Gooding County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide initiative originally launched in May 2001 and reinvigorated in 2017 by the Department of Justice to combat gun violence in the United States. Project Safe Neighborhoods marshals federal, state, and local resources to target and prosecute those who commit gun crimes. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, visit https://www.bja.gov.
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