Thread: Illegal Immigrant Sentenced to Jail 24 years

Illegal immigrant sentenced to jail for meth operation
Man said to be leader of drug ring gets almost 25 years
Thursday, June 12, 2008
By BRENDAN KIRBY
Staff Reporter

A federal judge in Mobile handed down a prison sentence of more than 24 years Wednesday to a Mexican man that law enforcement officials contend was one of the leaders of a drug ring that shipped large amounts of methamphetamine to Alabama.

U.S. District Judge William Steele sentenced Juan Ornelas, 47, to 24 years and four months. After the defendant serves that sentence — with no possibility of parole — he will be turned over to immigration authorities for deportation.

Dressed in a brown jail uniform, Ornelas asked for the sentence to be repeated. As he heard the response from an interpreter, he sank farther down into his seat.

Along with the sentence of 15 years and eight months that Valentin Martinez-Ornelas received last week, investigators have nabbed two of the highest-ranking leaders of a drug organization that had some 15 members in Texas and Alabama that sent 8.8 kilograms of methamphetamine to the Mobile area, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell said.

Bedwell said it is likely that the group has others still operating on the Mexican side of the border, but she added that she could not say whether there would be more indictments.

Court records show that Juan Ornelas was convicted in 1999 of smuggling marijuana into the country. He served a prison sentence and was deported only to return, according to records.

Because of that prior conviction, Juan Ornelas faced a mandatory-minimum term of 20 years. Steele increased that penalty based on his finding that Ornelas had used a firearm in connection with his smuggling activities and that the defendant played a managerial or supervisory role in the conspiracy.

Defense attorney Neil Hanley disputed that characterization. He noted that Ornelas made deliveries to the United States.

"I think the evidence establishes that he was a mule, a co-mule," he said. "There are very few leaders who make their own trips."

But Bedwell responded several witnesses had identified Ornelas as the "boss man" to whom others answered.

"Whether he was an absolute kingpin, we don't have to prove," she said.

The investigation began with a routine traffic stop in Fairhope in November 2005. The officer pulled over a Buick after the vehicle failed to move at an intersection through several traffic light cycles. Police found a multicolored bag under the driver's seat containing a bag of marijuana, electronic scales, rolling papers, orange pills and a pure form of methamphetamine, known as "ice."

Investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration and local police methodically built a case that stretched into Mobile County and Texas.

Acting on a tip, DEA agents went to a home in Mobile in April 2006. Ornelas answered the door and gave permission for his Chevrolet pickup truck to be searched. Investigators found 12 one-ounce bags of meth inside a secret compartment.

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/i ... xml&coll=3

another one bites the dust. maybe they should send him to
SHERIFF JOE.