ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — After pleading guilty to being part of a marijuana distribution system, Luis Carlos Vásquez-Barragán, 51, of Nicolás Bravo, Chihuahua, Mexico, was sentenced in New Mexico Federal Court. Given that he’s already served time in Mexico, he’ll serve roughly seven and a half years in prison in the U.S.
From 2005 to 2008, Vásquez-Barragán supplied and imported more than 1,000 kilograms (over 2,000 pounds) of marijuana to the U.S., according to his plea. Court documents reveal that Vásquez-Barragán directed a handful of other co-conspirators to get the drugs across the border.
Over the years, hundreds of kilos of Vásquez-Barragán’s marijuana was seized in New Mexico, including in Albuquerque. Over $300,000 of his funds were also seized by law enforcement in Indiana.
This isn’t the first time Vásquez-Barragán has been in trouble. In 2018, he was sentenced in a Mexican federal court. He was found guilty of organized crime and drug dealing and altering voter registration. He served 12 years of a 20-year sentence for those charges, according to court documents.
Now, a U.S. federal judge is recommending that Vásquez-Barragán serve time in a Texas or Arizona federal prison. His arrest and extradition were the work of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Mexican Federal Police, according to a press release.
