Family values.... It's always something to read in these articles that we will pay to keep him in prison for 20 years and then that it is 'probable' that he will be deported when his sentence is complete.


Illegal immigrant gets 20 years for cocaine trafficking
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June 12, 2010
By BETH KRAMER ekramer@stmedianetwork.com

Almost a year after a jury found him guilty, an illegal immigrant was sentenced for his involvement in drug trafficking.

Javier Zavala, 27, was convicted of possessing 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds) of cocaine, a Super Class X felony, according to Assistant State's Attorney Roderick Drobinski. That amount was valued at $1.5 million. Zavala will have to serve at least 75 percent of that sentence by statute.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have Zavala on hold, Drobinski said, so it is probable that Zavala will be deported after he serves his time.

Zavala could have been ordered to 60 years in prison.

Drobinski asked for a 30-year sentence.

During the raid on Oct. 30, 2008, Zavala was found residing in a North Chicago apartment where police found two cocaine presses that make bricks "like you see in the movies," Drobinski said.

The apartment was clearly a drug manufacturing operation, he said. The only dishes and utensils there were one spoon and one bowl, both of which were lined with coke residue. There was no food in the pantry and other drug manufacturing materials were present when police searched the apartment, Drobinski said.

"There was no doubt that the defendant knew what was going on and that he was participating in a drug operation. There was no doubt that the drugs were headed toward communities in Lake County," Drobinski said.

"These drugs bring violence to our streets. They infiltrate our schools and they destroy lives -- sometimes literally. We devote so many resources to fight the scourge of drug abuse, and what this defendant was doing was helping to feed this plague," he said.

Defense attorney Brad Aubel maintained that Zavala was in the "wrong place at the wrong time." Aubel previously presented inclusive testimony about his client's mental competence.

Stride pointed out that co-defendant Armondo Hernandez-Ramon is serving a 24-year prison sentence for the same offense. Hernandez-Ramon was the main architect of the offense, Drobinski said.

Zavala has no criminal history that the court is aware of, Drobinski said.

Aubel withdrew as Zavala's attorney after sentencing.

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