A defendant in a North Mississippi drug trafficking operation has been sentenced.
54-year-old Jackie Lee Brooks, of Ashland MS, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being identified as the leader of a meth distribution conspiracy in the Northern Mississippi.
He was ordered to forfeit $42,705 dollars in drug trafficking proceeds, 11 firearms and assorted ammunition, and approximately 200 acres of property in Mississippi and Tennessee.
The investigation and prosecution of this trans-national drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine from Mexico through Southern California to North Mississippi is the result of a joint investigation between several state and federal agencies.
This joint investigation involved numerous search warrants, arrests, and convictions resulting in the seizure of firearms, drugs and property. In all, seven defendants have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in the drug trafficking conspiracy with one remaining defendant to be sentenced.
“We are making and keeping our neighborhoods safe through joint and collaborative efforts like this one with our federal, state and local law enforcement under the umbrellas of our Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Working together is a force multiplier and by working together there’s no limit to what we have, can and will accomplish,” said U.S. Attorney William C. Lamar.
Below are the resulting sentences of the remaining co-conspirators:
- Rudy Flores pleaded guilty in January of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to discharge a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Flores to a total of 175 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
- Fernando Manguilla-Paez of Mexico pleaded guilty in February of 2017 to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Judge Aycock ordered Manguilla-Paez to serve a total of 157 months in custody.
- Methamphetamine supplier, Ricardo Aguilar Gonzalez of San Diego, California, pleaded guilty in February of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to commit interstate racketeering. Judge Aycock ordered Gonzalez to serve a total of 168 months in custody.
- Raul Cruz-Lopez of Tupelo, Mississippi, pleaded guilty in February of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. Judge Aycock ordered Cruz-Lopez to serve 70 months in custody.
- David Espiricueta of Houston, Mississippi pleaded guilty in April 2017 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Judge Aycock sentenced Espiricueta to 150 months in custody, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
- Manual Sandiago of Mexico pleaded guilty in May of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of firearms by an illegal alien. Judge Aycock ordered Sandiago to serve 101 months in custody.
- Abigail Lima of Tupelo, Mississippi, pleaded guilty in May of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to commit interstate racketeering. Judge Aycock ordered Lima to serve 31 months in custody, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
- Jerry Zamora, a/k/a “Gerardo Lima” of Mexico pleaded guilty in June of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession of firearms by an illegal alien and one count of conspiracy to commit interstate racketeering. Judge Aycock ordered Zamora to serve 200 months in custody.
- Thomas Scruggs of Tupelo, Mississippi, pleaded guilty in June of 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Judge Aycock sentenced Scruggs as a career offender and ordered Scruggs to serve a total of 240 months in custody, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
