A 21-year-old Peñitas man will spend the next seven and a half years in federal prison for trying to move 150 pounds of methamphetamine through the Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said Kevin Rangel-Sanchez was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton in Corpus Christi on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute the narcotics.
He pleaded guilty on April 1, according to a news release.
Federal authorities arrested Rangel-Sanchez on Nov. 30, 2020, after encountering him at the checkpoint.
“Authorities noticed that he appeared to be nervous and referred the vehicle to secondary inspection area for an X-ray examination,” the release stated.
That’s where Border Patrol found anomalies in his trucks tires and cut into them, according to federal authorities.
“That resulted in the discovery of steel boxes that had been welded around the rims inside the tires,” the release read.
Border Patrol then found 24 foil-wrapped packages of methamphetamine, according to authorities.
“In handing down the sentence, Judge Tipton noted Rangel-Sanchez’s youth and lack of criminal history, while noting the need for a significant prison sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offense,” the release stated.
He remains in custody and will be transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
