United States Drug Enforcement Administration

FRESNO, Calif. — Darrell Leon Jennings, 51, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today to five years in prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen announced.

His sentence follows his guilty plea on Nov. 7, 2018. According to court documents, Jennings, a trucker doing business in Moreno Valley as Jennings Transportation, assisted Mario Alvarez-Muniz, 50, of Taft, in transporting six kilograms of heroin and 11 kilograms of cocaine destined for Chicago. After Alvarez-Muniz arranged for the shipment of the drugs from Mexico to Mira Loma, Jennings picked up the drugs and drove back to Bakersfield where he was stopped by agents. A police dog located the drugs in a customized hidden compartment in Jennings’ truck.

Co-defendant Alvarez-Muniz previously entered a guilty plea and was sentenced last year to a prison term of 10 years and one month.

This case was the product of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, California Highway Patrol, Bakersfield Police Department, and Kern County Probation Office. OCDETF is the centerpiece of the United States Attorney General's drug strategy to reduce the availability of drugs by disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations and related criminal enterprises. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.