Phoenix man gets 12-year sentence for drug and weapons offenses
Apr 30, 2022, 7:15 AM
(Pexels Photo)
PHOENIX — A Phoenix man was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in prison for his role in drug trafficking and smuggling weapons from the United States into Mexico, authorities said Thursday.
Pedro Sevilla, 25, was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to smuggle goods, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona said in a press release.
In November 2019, ATF agents searched Sevilla’s home located in Phoenix and located 19 grams of cocaine, 11.9 pounds of fentanyl pills, an AR-type pistol with a loaded magazine, $12,970 cash and six additional bags of fentanyl pills.
His co-defendant, Francisco Mora, 28, of Tucson, was sentenced on April 29, 2021, to five years in prison for his role in smuggling.
An investigation into Sevilla was launched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in September 2019 after Mexican law enforcement seized firearms by Mora and Sevilla in Mexico.
Federal officials learned Sevilla and Mora conspired to export 40 firearms, 25,000 rounds of ammunition and 760 AK- and AR-type magazines. They then crossed into Mexico from the U.S. on various days to deliver the weapons.