ALBUQUERQUE – This morning a U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Albuquerque, N.M., found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Juan de Dios Delgado-Garcia, 33, a Mexican national, with a heroin trafficking offense. Delgado-Garcia was ordered to remain in federal custody pending trial.
Delgado-Garcia was arrested on Jan. 26, 2017, and was charged in a criminal complaint after the DEA seized approximately 1.40 kilograms (3.09 pounds) of heroin from him during an interdiction investigation at the Greyhound Bus Station.
If convicted, Delgado-Garcia faces a statutory mandatory minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in prison. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.
The case against Delgado-Garcia was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the DEA and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Letitia C. Simms as part of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative. The HOPE Initiative was launched in January 2015 by the UNM Health Sciences Center and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in response to the national opioid epidemic, which has had a disproportionately devastating impact on New Mexico. Opioid addiction has taken a toll on public safety, public health and the economic viability of our communities. Working in partnership with the DEA, the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative, Healing Addiction in our Community (HAC), the Albuquerque Public Schools and other community stakeholders, HOPE’s principal goals are to protect our communities from the dangers associated with heroin and opioid painkillers and reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in New Mexico.
The HOPE Initiative is comprised of five components: (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning. HOPE’s law enforcement component is led by the Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA in conjunction with their federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners. Targeting members of major heroin and opioid trafficking organizations for investigation and prosecution is a priority of the HOPE Initiative. Learn more about the New Mexico HOPE Initiative at http://www.HopeInitiativeNM.org.