Drug trafficker gets 11-year sentence

By Susan Shroder, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 6:11 p.m.

FEDERAL COURT — A man accused of being a major trafficker of marijuana from Mexico into the United States was sentenced Friday to 11 years and three months in prison.

Fidel Chan Amador, 42, whose last known address was in Mexicali, pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to bring thousands of pounds across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Chan was indicted in San Diego in 1999, but he remained at large until his arrest in Mexicali in November 2005 on Mexican charges of murder, kidnapping and organized crime. He was held in jail in Mexico City until his extradition to the United States.

He is accused of coordinating the movement of large shipments of marijuana through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry from 1996 to 1999, federal authorities said.

Chief U.S. District Judge Irma E. Gonzalez also sentenced Chan on Friday to five years of supervised release.

Chan’s sister, Lilia Chan Amador, is a co-defendant in the case. She was convicted in federal court of making payoffs to facilitate the distribution of marijuana.

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