United States Drug Enforcement Administration

STATESVILLE, NC - U.S. District Judge Richard L. Voorhees sentenced yesterday Eduardo Trejo-Munoz, a/k/a “Lalo,” 24, of Hickory, N.C. to 262 months in prison and five years of supervised release for trafficking high purity crystal methamphetamine worth over $5 million, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In November 2015, Trejo-Munoz was convicted of five charges following a two-day federal trial, including conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by Daniel R. Salter, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office; Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE/Homeland Security (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas; Sheriff Coy Reid of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff Alan C. Jones, of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office; and Chief Thurman Whisnant of the Hickory Police Department.

According to filed court documents, the sentencing hearing and evidence presented at trial, from in or about 2013 through September 2014 in Catawba and Mecklenburg counties and elsewhere, Trejo-Munoz trafficked more than 50 kilograms of near-pure crystal methamphetamine, which constitutes approximately 500,000 dosage units, with a street value of more than $5 million. Evidence presented at trial established that, over the course of the investigation, law enforcement purchased 133 grams of methamphetamine from Trejo-Munoz. According to court records, law enforcement also seized another 54 grams of methamphetamine from the defendant, as well as drug paraphernalia and a handgun with laser site from his residence.

This prosecution stems from investigation of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF) that has resulted in the conviction of more than 55 defendants on methamphetamine trafficking and firearms charges. OCDETF is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets. Trejo-Munoz has been in federal custody since September 2014 and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The case was investigated by the DEA, HSI, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office and Hickory Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman.

The DEA encourages parents, along with their children, to educate themselves about the dangers of legal and illegal drugs by visiting DEA’s interactive websites at www.justhinktwice.com, www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com and www.dea.gov.