United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BOSTON, MA. - A California man was sentenced yesterday in federal court for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, and Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme announced that JAIME ALVAREZ RAMIREZ, 24, of Riverside, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV to six years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Alvarez Ramirez, a Mexican National, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine in January. He faces deportation to Mexico at the conclusion of his jail sentence.

Had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that a drug courier named Kenneth Sparks was instructed by his boss, Feliciano Hernandez Moreno, to drive an SUV from California to Georgia. Believing that the SUV was loaded with drug proceeds, Sparks decided to steal the money and instead drove the SUV to Massachusetts. When Sparks removed the gas tank, he discovered, not cash, but eight, one-pound packages of nearly pure methamphetamine. Alvarez Ramirez and Hernandez Moreno were sent to Massachusetts to find Sparks and the pilfered drugs. By the time they arrived, Sparks had gone to law enforcement officers and confessed to stealing the drugs. DEA introduced a cooperating witness who spoke with Alvarez Ramirez and Hernandez Moreno which enabled agents to arrest them at the Blackstone Mall. With the help of Worcester Police Officers who learned of small methamphetamine sales occurring in Worcester, DEA was able to recover over five of the eight pounds of methamphetamine. The DEA lab determined that the methamphetamine was 99.9% pure.

The case was investigated by the DEA’s Worcester HIDTA Task Force.