ALBUQUERQUE – Anthony Margarito Berumen, 32, of Las Cruces, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to methamphetamine trafficking charges. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Berumen will be sentenced within the range of three to ten years in federal prison.
Berumen was arrested on Feb. 9, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Dec. 9, 2015 and Dec. 15, 2015. The complaint alleged that Berumen committed the crimes in Dona Ana County, N.M. According to the complaint, Berumen sold a total of 4.6 grams of methamphetamine to undercover law enforcement agents during two transactions on Dec. 9, 2015, and one transaction on Dec. 15, 2015.
Berumen was indicted on Aug. 17, 2016, and charged with three counts of distributing methamphetamine. The indictment was superseded on Sept. 22, 2016, charging Berumen with distributing methamphetamine on Dec. 9, 2015 and Dec. 16, 2015, and distributing methamphetamine in the vicinity of a school on Dec. 9, 2015.
During today’s proceedings, Berumen pled guilty to the superseding indictment. In entering the guilty plea, Berumen admitted selling methamphetamine to undercover law enforcement on three occasions in Dec. 2015. He also acknowledged that the one of the drug transactions took place in a middle school parking lot in Las Cruces. Berumen remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the New Mexico State Police and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Balla and Sarah M. Davenport of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.