Man sentenced to 5 years in prison for trafficking drugs in the Valley

PHOENIX — A man was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to trafficking drugs in the Valley, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Daniel Quinones-Castro, 34, pleaded guilty in July to counts of conspiracy to commit possession of a dangerous drug for sale and weapons misconduct, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

He was sentenced on Aug. 20.

How was Quinones-Castro implicated in drug trafficking scheme?

In September 2018, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigators began looking into a drug trafficking organization in the Valley and determined that Quinones-Castro was involved, prosecutors said.

After surveilling several sales, investigators discovered that Quinones-Castro was directing associates to obtain and then distribute drugs, including methamphetamine and cocaine.

Over the following five months, DEA investigators found that Quinones-Castro participated in trafficking more than seven pounds each of methamphetamine and cocaine through his operation.

The attorney general’s office added that investigators also seized a belt-fed rifle that Quinones-Castro had told an associate to buy. He planned to smuggle the weapon into Mexico.

Two co-conspirators, Mark Lujan and Daniel Granucci, have been sentenced to supervised probation for selling methamphetamine and laundering the proceeds, according to prosecutors.

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