A South Texan has landed himself a 144-month stretch in the big house for conspiring with a Mexican drug cartel to distribute meth, the Department of Justice reported. Raul Mendiola-Flores, 43, of McAllen, Texas was sentenced after pleading guilty on Feb. 22 to the drug charges, which will be followed by five years of supervised release, according to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
The sentencing hearing revealed Mendiola-Flores' checkered past, complete with nine prior convictions including a serious felony for dealing cocaine that landed him a five-year bid previously, U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton wasted no time throwing the book at him hammering down a 12-year term in the clink. Investigations unearthed Mendiola-Flores' direct dealings with narcotics kingpins across the border setting up drug traffics and pickups that fueled his dirty business.
One such narcotics mule, Jorge Lopez, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen holed up in Reynosa, Mexico, was nabbed importing a kilogram of meth stateside through the Hidalgo Port of Entry in May. Lopez had coordinated with his contact Mendiola-Flores to shuttle the drugs further inland, but like his accomplice, he's also currently cooling his heels in custody with a possible life sentence and a hefty $10 million fine looming, after his own guilty plea.
DEA agents worked the gears of the investigation that hitched Mendiola-Flores to the drug trafficking outfit, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Garcia taking point on the prosecution side of things now Mendiola-Flores will cool his heels in a federal prison, the location of which is still unknown.
