HELENA, Mont.—A federal appeals court Wednesday said a Denver man serving 14 years on a cocaine charge is not entitled to a sentence reduction, even though he cooperated with prosecutors.
Juan Gabriel Flores is serving 170 months in federal prison. He was sentenced in Billings in February 2007 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.
Prosecutors said Flores, also known as Abraham Goytia, was involved in a conspiracy to distribute kilo quantities of cocaine. Law enforcement agents working undercover seized two kilograms of cocaine being brought to Montana from Colorado.
Flores and several others were arrested in Billings.
Flores cooperated with prosecutors; and his appeal said the government reneged on seeking a sentence reduction.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his sentence Wednesday. The court said the plea agreement specified Flores “is not offered or promised” that prosecutors would move for a sentence reduction.
“The defendant acknowledges that no promise has been made and accepts this agreement that no such motion will be filed if the government determines that the information is either untruthful, willfully incomplete, of little value, or insubstantial,” the appellate ruling said, quoting from the plea agreement.
Flores, 36, is serving his sentence at the Victorville federal prison in Adelanto, Calif. His projected release date is May 30, 2019.
