ALBUQUERQUE – Francisco Javier Paez-Sianez, 33, a Mexican national, made his initial appearance yesterday in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., on a criminal complaint charging him with methamphetamine trafficking offenses. Paez-Sianez remains in federal custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing which have yet to be scheduled.
Paez-Sianez was arrested on Dec. 12, 2015, after U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Border Patrol Checkpoint on I-10 in Las Cruces, allegedly found approximately 7.3 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in the gas tank of Paez-Sianez’s vehicle during a routine inspection. According to the criminal complaint, Paez-Sianez allegedly was paid $1,000.00 to transport the methamphetamine from Mexico to Santa Fe, N.M.
If convicted of the charges in the criminal complaint, Paez-Sianez faces a statutory penalty of a mandatory minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in federal prison and will be deported following his incarceration. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces Station of the U.S. Border Patrol and the Las Cruces office of the DEA and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Shapiro of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.