A Mexican national was sentenced in federal court for attempting to sell about 15 pounds of methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement officer after illegally reentering the United States.
Javier Corona-Verduzco, 36, of Montclair, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Corona-Verduzco to 20 years of supervised release following incarceration.
On Jan. 15, 2019, Corona-Verduzco was convicted at trial of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and of illegally reentering the United States after being deported following his incarceration for two earlier drug trafficking convictions. Corona-Verduzco was still on supervised release for those earlier convictions when he was arrested in this case.
Following his conviction, incarceration, and deportation to Mexico, Corona-Verduzco illegally reentered the United States and was again actively engaged in trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine.
Corona-Verduzco attempted to sell pound quantities of methamphetamine to a confidential informant. Corona-Verduzco told the confidential informant that he had a large quantity of methamphetamine and was looking for customers to purchase multiple pound quantities.
The confidential informant told Corona-Verduzco that he/she knew someone who was interested in purchasing pounds of methamphetamine. Corona-Verduzco agreed to meet the confidential informant and this acquaintance, who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer, on March 31, 2016. Corona-Verduzco met with the confidential informant and the undercover officer at a location in Kansas City, Kansas, and offered to sell 15 pounds of methamphetamine for approximately $80,000.
Corona-Verduzco and the confidential informant drove to a house in Kansas City, Mo., so that the confidential informant could check the quality of the methamphetamine for sale. At that location, the confidential informant saw approximately 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine in a bag.
Corona-Verduzco was arrested the next day. He had told both the confidential informant and the undercover officer that the 15 pounds of methamphetamine he was attempting to sell them was in a gray Chevrolet Tahoe. Law enforcement officers located the Tahoe parked behind the Kansas City, Mo., residence where Corona-Verduzco had taken the confidential informant the day before. Law enforcement officers found seven packages of methamphetamine, totaling 6.814 kilograms (approximately 15 pounds), hidden in a hollow compartment behind the driver’s side rear panel. Officers also found 400 grams of methamphetamine inside the residence.
Corona-Verduzco also has a prior conviction in an unrelated case for witness intimidation where he threatened the lives and families of co-defendants.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Q. McCarther and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean T. Foley. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Jackson County Drug Task Force.
