A 30-year-old Corpus Christi resident has been ordered to federal prison for conspiring to possess and to distribute methamphetamine smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.
U.S. District Judge David S. Morales sentenced Tommie Lee Gutierrez to 300 months in federal prison. The sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release.
Gutierrez pleaded guilty on Jan. 29.
At the hearing on Aug. 26, the court heard additional evidence that Gutierrez is a member of a gang and a three-time convicted felon, a news release said. Morales also heard that Gutierrez had made a call planning
his return to participate in the drug trafficking organization while in custody on another unrelated felony.
The drug trafficking organization received methamphetamine in the Coastal Bend area in multi-kilogram quantities hidden in vehicles and cabinetry that had passed across the border into the U.S. from Mexico, according to the news release.
Gutierrez was responsible for receiving vehicle loads, removing bundles of methamphetamine from various compartments in the vehicles and repacking the same vehicles with cash proceeds from prior sales.
Co-conspirators then drove vehicles back into Mexico to pay the suppliers.
On at least one occasion, Gutierrez wrecked an abandoned vehicle with hidden methamphetamine on a public street in Corpus Christi before it had been completely unloaded, the news release said.
Kilograms of meth were later discovered at the city impound lot in the driver's side door.
Gutierrez has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Felicity Guajardo covers breaking news and public safety. Contact her at felicity.guajardo@caller.com.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi man sentenced to 25 years for meth trafficking
