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August 17, 2006

4 sentenced in Taney County on cocaine charges

Amos Bridges
© 2006, Springfield News-Leader

Four Mexican nationals were sentenced in federal court Thursday for distributing cocaine in Taney County, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

The men — all citizens of Mexico living in Branson —were prosecuted as part of Operation Cocaine Highway, a multi-jurisdictional investigation into the importation and distribution of powder cocaine.

Sentenced were:

* Marco Antonio Hernandez-Islas, also known as The Chicken, 34, sentenced to two years and three months in federal prison without parole.

* Rogelio Garduno-Bustos, 35, sentenced to three years and five months in federal prison without parole.

* Tayde Garduno-Bustos, also known as Coco, 37, sentenced to two years in federal prison without parole.

* Manuela Garcia-Lujan, 40, sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison without parole.

All four pleaded guilty in April of this year to participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Taney County from April 2002 to April 2003, the release said.

Two other co-defendants in the case were sentenced earlier.

* Ruben D. Garduno-Bustos, 30, a Mexican citizen living in Branson, was sentenced March 8, to four years and three months in federal prison without parole. His sentence is to be served consecutively to a 2003 federal sentence for unlawful re-entry as an aggravated felon.

* Osvaldo Lerma, Jr., 33, of Branson, was sentenced March 10 to three years and five months in federal prison without parole.
Rogelio Garduno-Bustos and Garcia-Lujan are resident aliens who had applied for citizenship to the United States, the press release said.

Rogelio Garduno-Bustos, Tayde Garduno-Bustos and Ruben D. Garduno-Bustos are brothers.