Efren Alexander Aviles-Pacheco, 29, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, who was illegally living in Ontario, Oregon, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on December 13, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
On November 22, 2022, investigators detained Aviles-Pacheco in a Nampa hotel room where they found 122 grams of methamphetamine, 365 grams of fentanyl, 29 grams of cocaine, $3,415 in cash, and a 9mm handgun.
“Through his repeated involvement in this longstanding drug trafficking operation in Oregon, this defendant has earned every day of his 15-year sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit.
The agency noted in 2019 that the District of Idaho had already convicted Aviles-Pacheco on the same charge.
On February 12, 2019, the department sentenced him to 46 months in jail, and after he serves his term, they will deport him to Mexico.
The US Attorney’s Office claims that shortly after his deportation, he illegally returned to the US and resumed cocaine trafficking.
At sentencing, Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill determined that Aviles-Pacheco was most certainly responsible for the deaths of at least two people who overdosed on drugs he provided.
“If ever there was a case that screamed out for a long prison sentence, this is the case,” Winmill said.
Hurwit complimented the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Nampa Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, and High Desert Drug Task Force, which worked with the Payette County Task Force to bring the charges.
“I commend our prosecutors and thank our law enforcement partners—in both Idaho and Oregon—for dismantling criminal networks like this one and eliminating drug distribution pathways into Idaho,” added Hurwit.
