A man convicted of supplying methamphetamine to a drug trafficking operation that stretched from California to Colorado was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.
Arnaldo Alvarez-Gonzalez, 36, was one of 22 people indicted by a federal grand jury in 2012 for involvement with the operation, which and, at one point, strapped cash to a child to avoid detection.
Alvarez-Gonzalez was charged with conspiring to distribute and possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as two counts of using a telephone in the commission of a felony drug offense.
The latter charge was dropped in a plea agreement reached in February.
Alvarez-Gonzalez agreed to forfeit all property and proceeds related to his offenses.
“I’d like to apologize for my actions,” Alvarez-Gonzalez said through his interpreter at the sentencing hearing Friday. “I accept full responsibility.”
A citizen of Mexico, Alvarez-Gonzalez owned a painting company in the U.S. from 2004 to 2006. At various points in his life, he also worked as a subcontractor, a construction framer and a dishwasher. This is the second time he has faced a felony drug conviction.
After receiving his sentence, which included five years of supervised release, Alvarez-Gonzalez asked to be sent to a facility near San Jose, Calif., where his wife and daughter live.
According to the plea agreement, Alvarez-Gonzalez supplied methamphetamine to Reyna Mendoza-Haro, who gave the drugs to others to redistribute, between October 2010 and May 2012.
Mendoza-Haro and her brother, Armando Mendoza-Haro, are accused of being ringleaders of the operation.
While investigating the drug ring, federal agents found more than 6 pounds of methamphetamine and $715,340 of cash and property in an operation they called “Dark Angel.”
Since 2012, 20 of the 22 defendants have pleaded guilty to some type of drug-related crime, according to Department of Justice spokesman Jeffrey Dorschner.
Of the two remaining defendants, one was found guilty last year and the other is set for a motions hearing in February.
Reyna Mendoza-Haro pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in federal prison. Her brother received a sentence of 10 years.
Anna Gauldin: 303-954-1666, agauldin@denverpost.com
