Las Cruces, New Mexico - A New Mexico woman was sentenced Thursday to 120 months in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.
Norma Patricia Rivera, 40, from Deming, was arrested in May 2015 on a criminal complaint charging her with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. The complaint alleged that Rivera committed the crime in Luna County, New Mexico, on May 20, 2015. According to the complaint, HSI special agents executed a state court search warrant at a residence in Luna County and seized 722.9 grams (1.6 pounds) of a methamphetamine mixture in liquid and crystal form.
Rivera was subsequently charged in a two-count indictment Aug. 19, 2015, with distributing methamphetamine in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, on July 17, 2014, and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Luna County on May 20, 2015.
Rivera pleaded guilty to the charges in the indictment Oct. 15, 2015. By pleading guilty, Rivera admitted selling 162.18 grams of methamphetamine to a person working with law enforcement officers in Las Cruces on July 17, 2014. Rivera also admitted that she possessed liquid and crystal methamphetamine in Deming on May 20, 2015, and that she intended to sell the drugs to others. In addition to her 10-year prison sentence, Rivera must also serve five years of supervised release.
This case was investigated by HSI Deming, the Las Cruces office of the FBI, the HIDTA Regional Interagency Drug Task Force-Metro Narcotics Task Force and the Deming Police Department.
The HIDTA Regional Interagency Drug Task Force/Metro Narcotics Task Force is comprised of officers from the Las Cruces Police Department, the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, HSI and the New Mexico State Police. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States. It seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.