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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
July 8, 2008
COCAINE SMUGGLER MADE MISTAKE WHEN HE IGNORED EMERGENCY VEHICLE
WICHITA, KAN. – Vincent P. Brungardt, 39, Nogales, Ariz., was sentenced Monday to 5 years in federal prison for drug trafficking.
Brungardt pleaded guilty in April to one count of interstate travel for unlawful activities. In his plea he admitted that police found 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds) of cocaine in his car when they arrested him in Wichita on Jan. 17, 2008.
In his plea, Brungardt admitted that a Wichita Police officer was stopped along I-35 with his emergency lights activated when Brungardt passed him without slowing down or moving over. The officer stopped Brungardt, who said he was traveling from Arizona to Minnesota to see his girlfriend. Brungardt refused the officer’s request to search his car. The officer brought in a drug dog, which led investigators to find a false compartment under the vehicle containing the cocaine.
U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren commended the Wichita Police Department and U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch for their work on the case.
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