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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
July 16, 2008
TRUCK DRIVER ARRESTED WITH $448,000 CASH SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING, MONEY LAUNDERING
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Hector Contreras, 35, El Paso, Texas, was sentenced Tuesday to 46 months in federal prison for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Contreras pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; and one count of money laundering.
In his plea, Contreras agreed not to contest the criminal forfeiture of $448,960 the Kansas Highway Patrol found in the cab of his tractor trailer when they arrested him Sept. 1, 2006, on Interstate 35 near Olathe. He also agreed to a money judgment of approximately $13 million, which represents the proceeds of the alleged crimes.
From April 2006 through August 2006, Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Kansas City were conducting Operation Loadrunner, an investigation of a drug trafficking organization that was responsible for smuggling marijuana and cocaine from Mexico to Kansas, and smuggling cash from Kansas City to Mexico. On Sept. 1, 2006, they intercepted a phone call between Contreras and another conspirator. When the two met later at the Shell Truck Stop in Olathe, investigators were watching. Contreras left the truck stop driving south on Interstate 35 in a white tractor trailer marked “Arrow Freight Management.” When Kansas Highway Patrol troopers stopped the truck, they found 45 bundles of U.S. currency wrapped in dryer sheets and plastic wrap.
There are 24 co-defendants in the case who are awaiting trial. Contreras is the first defendant charged in Operation Loadrunner to be sentenced.
U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren commended the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zabel and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris Hunt for their work on the case.
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