SACRAMENTO, CA—United States Attorney
Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Danny Pereda, aka T-Mighty, 29, of San
Francisco; and Rebecca Guzman, 27, of Salinas, pleaded guilty today to
conspiring to traffic methamphetamine and cocaine with the Nuestra Familia
(NF), a violent Hispanic prison gang based within the California prison system
whose members exert control over street-level Norteño gang members engaged in
drug trafficking and violent crime.
The plea agreement for Pereda calls for
a sentence of 20 years in prison, while the plea agreement for Guzman calls for
a sentence of 14 years in prison. Sentencing for Guzman is set for July 23,
2012 and sentencing for Pereda is set for August 6, 2012.
According to court documents, between
2005 and 2007, Pereda functioned with the Nuestra Familia’s San Francisco and
Salinas regiments to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine and
cocaine. Pereda admitted that at his peak, he was receiving between one to four
kilograms of cocaine every other day and during the first half of 2007, he was
receiving multiple pounds of methamphetamine on a regular basis.
According to court documents, Guzman
admitted that beginning in early 2005 and continuing through the summer of
2006, she agreed to assist Nuestra Familia members to transport large
quantities of drug money and drugs, including methamphetamine and cocaine.
During the conspiracy, she frequently drove a green Honda Accord, equipped with
hidden compartments, to the Moreno Valley area of California and picked up cocaine
and methamphetamine. Guzman would then return with the drugs and deliver them
to the Salinas area. She also transported more than 20 kilograms of cocaine
from a drug supplier in Bakersfield. Between 2005 and 2006, NF member Paul
Killinger used NF drug money to rent a Salinas apartment for Guzman. NF
members, including Diaz, Killinger, and Robert Hanrahan, used the apartment to
store and cut their methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as store firearms.
Two
Successful Jury Trials
The initial indictment of 25 defendants
in June 2007 led to two jury trials and the convictions of five defendants on
multiple counts of drug trafficking. In the 2009 trial, one defendant demanded
a speedy trial, was convicted, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In the
2010 trial, four of the NF’s leadership defendants were each convicted on all
of the counts in the indictment after a contentious four-month jury trial.
Today’s guilty plea by Gallegos is the first conviction in a January 2011
indictment.
Significant
Sentences and Guilty Pleas
The initial indictment also resulted in
a number of significant sentences:
April 21, 2010: Manuel Gauna was
sentenced to more than 21 years in prison.
December 13, 2010: Richard Mendoza was
sentenced to 17½ years in prison.
February 22, 2011: Bismark Ocampo was
sentenced to 28 years in prison.
May 25, 2011: the trial defendants were
sentenced to the following:
■Larry Amaro—40 years in prison;
■Ernest Killinger—36½ years in prison;
■Gerardo Mora—more than 33 years in
prison;
■Jason Stewart-Hanson—25 years in
prison.
July 25, 2011: Gabriel Caracheo was
sentenced to 25 years in prison.
July 27, 2011:David Ramirez was
sentenced to 15½ years in prison.
September 26, 2011: Fernando Villalpando
was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
October 17, 2011: Faustino Gonzalez was
sentenced to 15½ years in prison.
November 28, 2011: Oscar Campos-Padilla
was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
April 9, 2012: Juan Gallegos pleaded
guilty; sentencing: July 9, 2012.
These cases were part of an Organized
Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation. The OCDETF Program was
established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug
trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the
OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug
trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible
for the nation’s drug supply.
This case is the product of an extensive
investigation by the FBI’s Stockton Violent Crime Task Force, the San Joaquin
County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force, the Stockton Police Department, the
Salinas Police Department, the Watsonville Police Department, the Monterey
County Sheriff’s Department, and the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation. Assistant United States Attorneys Jason Hitt and William S.
Wong are prosecuting the case.
When prosecuted in federal court, drug
traffickers typically receive much harsher sentences. In addition to the longer
sentences imposed, unlike state court prisoners who are released early on
parole, there is no early release on parole in the federal system.
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