URBANA, Ill. -- Jose Jaime Lopez, aka “JJ,” 37, of the 800 block of West Penn St., Hoopeston, Ill., has been ordered to serve the rest of his life in federal prison for trafficking crystal meth and cocaine in Champaign, as announced by Patrick D. Hansen, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. Lopez has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his federal arrest in January 2016. U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce sentenced Lopez on Feb. 17.
On Nov. 3, 2016, a jury found Lopez guilty of distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as attempted possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. During three days of trial, the government presented evidence to establish that in October 2014, Lopez arranged with a Mexican drug cartel member in Houston, to obtain approximately 10 ounces of crystal methamphetamine, also known as “ice.” Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration intercepted phone calls between Lopez and the cartel member. On Oct. 3, 2014, agents of the DEA and Champaign Police Department seized 272.5 grams of nearly 100 percent pure crystal methamphetamine from a drug courier in Rantoul, Ill. The courier was transporting the crystal meth to Lopez in Hoopeston so Lopez could distribute it in Central Illinois. Later, in November and December 2015, agents used a confidential informant to purchase two ounces of powder cocaine, 18 grams of ice, and 30 grams of ice, respectively, from Lopez in the parking lots of businesses on North Prospect Street in Champaign. On January 6, 2016, agents executed a search warrant at Lopez’s Hoopeston residence and found numerous items associated with drug trafficking.
At the time the drug trafficking offenses occurred, Lopez was on federal supervised release for a 2002 federal drug trafficking conviction, as well as state bond for aggravated fleeing from a police officer. Lopez was also ordered to serve five years in prison, to be served concurrent with the life sentence, for violating federal supervised release. Lopez also has a prior felony drug conviction in Texas, as well as two Vermilion County, Illinois convictions for aggravated battery of a police officer and driving under the influence of alcohol.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Champaign Police Department investigated the case.