A federal judge has handed a five-year prison term to a man prosecutors say hauled roughly 100 pounds of methamphetamine from Tucson to Phoenix for a deal with a federal informant. The 60-month sentence follows a guilty plea entered in August 2025, according to court filings. Authorities say the defendant and two others made the drive north for the handoff and were arrested on the spot.
Case and Sentence
As reported by KTAR, 28-year-old Jefte Monell Diaz admitted in a plea agreement that he transferred about 100 pounds of meth in Phoenix and received a 60-month federal prison sentence. The agreement states that the supposed buyer at the meetup was working with law enforcement and that all three men at the scene were taken into custody.
Multiagency Task Force Probe
The case was handled by the Tucson Homeland Security Task Force, a multiagency group that includes Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona. The task force was created under an executive order to coordinate federal, state and local partners that target transnational trafficking and related crimes.
Where This Fits in Arizona
Loads the size of the one prosecutors say Diaz delivered have become a familiar headache for Arizona law enforcement. State and federal agencies have recently intercepted multi-hundred-pound shipments and staged high profile takedowns. In one Phoenix area operation, the Arizona Financial Crimes Task Force and the DEA seized roughly 1,609 pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of pounds of fentanyl, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Legal Implications
Court records cited by KTAR note that a firearm was in the vehicle during the trip, a detail that can bring tougher federal penalties when guns are tied to drug trafficking. Under federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) imposes mandatory minimum prison terms and can require consecutive sentences when a firearm is used, carried or possessed in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the Legal Information Institute.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tucson prosecuted the case. Federal prosecutors say convictions like this are part of a continuing push to disrupt bulk drug shipments that feed Arizona markets.
