BATON ROUGE, LA - United States Attorney Walt Green announced today that U.S. District Judge Shelly D. Dick sentenced SILVESTRE GUTIERREZ, age 39, of Mexico, to seventy-eight (78) months in federal prison for his role in attempting to transport approximately six (6) kilograms of cocaine through Baton Rouge in a rental vehicle.
On September 7, 2016, GUTIERREZ pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a detectable amount of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, and illegal reentry by a previously removed alien, in violation of Title 6, United States Code, Section 1326(a).
The defendant and his co-conspirators were arrested on February 29, 2016 after law enforcement officers found fifteen (15) vaccum sealed packages of cocaine floating the gas tank of their rental vehicle. Further, the defendant had in his possession the receipts for the items used to vaccum seal the cocaine for transporation in the gas tank of the vehicle. It was also uncovered that the defendant was not legally in the United States and had been previously deported on two prior occasions.
This matter was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Baton Rouge Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M.P. Thornhill.