Bay Area drug dealer who help distribute 198 pounds of meth sentenced to 7 years in federal prison
SAN JOSE -- A convicted drug dealer, who pleaded guilty to helping to distribute 198 pounds of methamphetamine, 10 pounds of heroin, and 40 pounds of cocaine has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds announced that Raul Jimenez-Verduzco was sentenced Tuesday for conspiring to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.
Jimenez-Verduzco, 24, a resident of San Jose and Milpitas, pleaded guilty on November 1, 2022. In his plea agreement, he admitted that from October 2020 to October 2021 he worked with a drug trafficking organization to distribute large amounts of controlled substances.
In total, he conspired to distribute 198 pounds of methamphetamine, 10 pounds of heroin, and 40 pounds of cocaine. According to the government's sentencing memorandum, the values of these drugs approximated $495,000 of methamphetamine, $63,000 of heroin, and $540,000 of cocaine.
Jimenez-Verduzco acted principally as a dispatcher who took phone orders from the drug trafficking organization's customers and contacted couriers to deliver the drugs to the customers.
He described that he engaged in hundreds of calls each week with customers ordering drugs and with couriers who he directed to deliver the drugs.
Jimenez-Verduzco admitted in his plea agreement that he also performed other tasks for the drug trafficking organization.
For example, he kept drug shipments in his apartment until a co-conspirator could take the drugs to a larger stash house. He picked up money from customers and delivered it to another co-conspirator in charge of money handling. He also delivered drugs to customers. For these tasks, he was paid a weekly salary.
In his plea agreement, Jimenez-Verduzco also described multiple drug deliveries that he made.
On October 20, 2020, he met with a customer who was, unbeknownst to Jimenez-Verduzco, an undercover law enforcement agent. He delivered three ounces of pure methamphetamine and one ounce of heroin to the undercover agent.
On August 18, 2021, Jimenez-Verduzco delivered drugs to a man parked in front of a parking complex on Harvard Avenue in Santa Clara. Jimenez-Verduzco put a trash bag containing 44 pounds of methamphetamine into the man's car. Law enforcement officers stopped the car minutes later and seized the drugs. Lab testing determined the methamphetamine was 96% pure.
In addition to 84 months imprisonment, Jimenez-Verduzco was ordered three years of supervision following his release from prison.
Jimenez-Verduzco was in custody at the sentencing hearing and begins serving his sentence immediately.