A Bloomington man has copped a plea to a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy, in a scene straight out of "Breaking Bad." Jesus Martinez Salazar, 32, admitted to his role in the drug ring after a sting operation caught him selling a hefty load of meth to an undercover cop, the U.S. Attorney's office said yesterday.
In what reads like a crime thriller, court papers revealed Salazar and his co-conspirator Derrick Dammons, 45, from Minneapolis, struck a deal to unload 1.5 pounds of the narcotic for a cool $3,750 to a buyer who was in reality an undercover law enforcement officer, the meth and the money exchanged hands, then the officers swooped in to capture their men, according to the U.S. Attorney's announcement.
Salazar, no stranger to the criminal justice system due to a previous drug conviction, now faces a hard time, with a 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentence hanging over his head. The guilty plea was entered before Judge Donovan W. Frank to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
Meanwhile, Dammons pleaded guilty last year and both men are now awaiting their sentences—their fates sealed by the detailed work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, and local police departments from Minneapolis and Eagan, winding down what appears to have been a substantial drug enterprise.
Federal prosecutor Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan L. Sing took the lead on the case, which unfolded after a coordinated effort to curb the flow of illegal drugs in the area. With the meth off the streets and the guilty parties awaiting sentencing, the operation marks a win for law enforcement in the ongoing battle against drug distribution.
