United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Bernabe Carrasco, 35, of El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to a methamphetamine trafficking charge pursuant to a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Bernabe Carrasco and his co-defendant and cousin, Carlos Jesus Carrasco, 24, also of El Paso, were arrested on Dec. 20, 2013, and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.  The two men subsequently were indicted on the same two charges.  According to the indictment, Bernabe Carrasco and Carlos Carrasco conspired to distribute methamphetamine on Dec. 19, 2013, and possessed methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Dec. 20, 2013.  The indictment alleges that the two men committed the two offenses in Otero County, N.M.

During today’s proceedings, Bernabe Carrasco pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.  In his plea agreement, Bernabe Carrasco admitted that on Dec. 20, 2013, he possessed 2.07 kilograms of pure methamphetamine.  Bernabe Carrasco boarded a passenger bus in El Paso in order to take two packages of methamphetamine that were strapped to his body to Amarillo, Texas, in exchange for $1,200.  He also acknowledged that he was traveling with his cousin, Carlos Carrasco, who also was carrying methamphetamine.  The cousins were apprehended at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 54 in New Mexico when Border Patrol agents boarded the bus to conduct a routine immigration check of the passengers.

Carlos Carrasco previously pleaded guilty to the indictment on May 20, 2014, and also admitted possessing 2.07 kilograms of methamphetamine on Dec. 20, 2013, which he intended to distribute.  

Bernabe Carrasco and Carlos Carrasco have been in federal custody since their arrests and remain detained pending their sentencing hearings, which have yet to be scheduled.  At sentencing, each man faces a sentence of not less than ten years and not more than life in prison.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Border Patrol, with assistance from the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Gould of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.