The sentencing of a Starr County drug trafficker’s wife Thursday became a cautionary tale for those adjacently profiting from the drug trade.
“I was a married woman that followed my husband’s orders,” Julisa Peña, 32, said before U.S. District Judge Randy Crane during her virtual sentencing hearing.
Peña, 32, pleaded guilty for her role in using up to $110,000 derived from her husband’s, Evaristo Sepulveda III’s drug trafficking business. The profitable organization was at one point crossing more than 300 kilograms of cocaine a week through the Midway area in Starr County.
After their arrest and indictments, both Peña and Sepulveda entered into a plea agreement with the government.
Peña’s attorney, Rene Orlando Garza, reminded the judge that his client has no criminal history and two children under the age of 10.
Then, Garza, who has represented other clients in the drug trade, pointed out something he hadn’t seen in cases like this before.
“But I had hardly seen any wives ever been arrested, your honor,” he said. “I’m sure that 99% of individuals have involved their wives in one way or another.”
Garza explained that Peña did not count or wrap money, nor did she store drugs. She reportedly used the money to pay a contractor for home construction when her husband was unable to take the payments himself.
“I think that this is a bad way of looking at what Ms. Peña did,” Patricia Cook Profit, assistant U.S. Attorney, cautioned. “And to the extent that people are willing to live that lifestyle they are assisting in the actual drug trafficking.”
As a result of the conviction, Peña lost her home after she and her husband agreed to give up the property to the government. She also lost her job that paid $16.50 per hour. Without a college education, Peña began to take cosmetology classes, her attorney said, but she was told the conviction would prevent her from becoming licensed.
The drug trafficking trade placed stress on the marriage, and the couple disputed over drugs stored in the house where the children reside and the illicit source of their income.
Peña will be filing for divorce soon, though she’s “happy about that,” her attorney added.
Above all other losses, including her freedom, Peña bemoaned the effect her decisions will have on her children.
“I would not want my children to not only not have their father, but not to have their mother either. I am very sorry, your honor,” Peña said, ending her remarks at the sentencing hearing.
“I do believe Ms. Peña is very remorseful, and I certainly think that’s an important thing for the court to take into consideration,” Profit told the judge.
In spite of the acknowledgement of her wrongdoing, she was not given probation.
“Your kids are resilient, and I think they’ll bounce back as soon as you get out of custody,” Judge Crane told her, before he determined her outcome.
Although Peña was facing a sentencing range between 41 and 51 months in prison, she was ordered to serve 18 months in prison with three years on supervised release.
Peña was given from Feb.10 to 25 to get her affairs in order, like arranging care for children.
The sentencing hearing will be different for another drug trafficking wife, Ariana Sepulveda, Peña’s sister-in-law. She denied knowing about her husband’s, Daniel Sepulveda, activity after a smuggling event. Text messages extracted from their phones proved she was not truthful.
“The distinction is that [the] other wife came in and chose to lie,” Profit told the judge.
Unlike Peña, though, Ariana Sepulveda did not enter into a plea agreement with the government.
