Mexican national residing in Modesto is sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for methamphetamine trafficking

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Feliciano Ochoa Reyes, 34, of Mexico and Modesto was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. to 17-and-a-half years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen announced.

According to court documents, Reyes supplied methamphetamine to various distributors in the Sacramento and Modesto areas between 2014 and 2015. Reyes was arrested on March 29, 2015, after law enforcement officers watched one of his employees receive a delivery of 15 kilograms of methamphetamine at a Modesto stash house. The methamphetamine delivery was worth approximately $50,000. When agents searched the property, they found a laboratory for converting liquid methamphetamine to crystal methamphetamine and more than $23,000 in cash. On Dec. 3, 2014, officers pulled over the car of a Reyes customer who had just received four kilograms of methamphetamine from Reyes.

This case was the product of an investigation by the DEA, the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and the California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Beck prosecuted the case.

Co-defendants Jose Acosta and Jorge Rios have each been sentenced to 87 months in prison. Co-defendant Jose Luis Aguilar was sentenced to 48 months in prison. Co-defendant Luis Garcia Barreto was sentenced to 47 months in prison. Co-defendant Diego Velasquez was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Juan Antonio Mendoza Meraz was sentenced in a related case to 56 months in prison. Charges are pending against the final co-defendant, Jose Vasquez. The charges against him are only allegations; he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.