Two men are headed to prison for dealing drugs after Kansas State Troopers stopped their vehicles and discovered 80 pounds of methamphetamine, 11 pounds of cocaine and 10 bales of marijuana. The drugs were seized during two separate traffic stops.
In the first case, a man from Las Vegas, Nevada, has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for carrying 80 pounds of meth in his vehicle. The defendant, 31-year-old Tomas Serrato-Jaimes, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute meth. In his plea this week, he admitted the Kansas Highway Patrol stopped his car in June near Hays and discovered the meth as well as 11 pounds of cocaine.
In the other case...
A Tucson, Arizona, man has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison on drug charges. In December of 2013, the Kansas Highway Patrol stopped 35-year-old Pilar Angel Leon-Beltran in Ellis County and discovered nearly 100 kilograms of marijuana in his car. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Leon-Beltran was a passenger in a Chevrolet Impala that was carrying 10 bales of marijuana. He fled on foot when the car was stopped but was arrested about three hours later. The vehicle in which the defendant was riding had been rented the day before in Denver. A co-defendant, 23-year-old Crystal Amarillas-Norzagaray, also of Tucson, is set for sentencing November 24.
Barry Grissom, the U.S. Attorney for Kansas, prasied the Kansas Highway Patrol for its work on both cases.