ALBUQUERQUE – Floyd Albert Sherrell, 34, of Artesia, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his conviction on methamphetamine trafficking and firearms charges.
Sherrell was arrested on Sept. 1, 2015, on an indictment charging him with unlawfully possessing firearms on June 10, 2014, and distributing methamphetamine on June 12, 2014. According to the indictment, Sherrell committed the crimes in Eddy County, N.M. At the time, Sherrell was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he previously had been convicted of larceny of a firearm and burglary.
On Jan. 26, 2016, Sherrell pled guilty to a felony information charging him with being a felon in possession of firearms and distribution of methamphetamine. In entering his guilty plea, Sherrell admitted selling four firearms to an undercover law enforcement agent on June 10, 2014, and selling 25 grams of pure methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement agent on June 12, 2014.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Y. Armijo of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
The Pecos Valley Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, Carlsbad Police Department and Artesia Police Department and is part of the HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.