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A 29-year-old woman has been sentenced to four years in federal prison on a charge of cocaine smuggling.
Marlene Mancha appeared Thursday before U.S Federal Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. where he sentenced her to 48 months in prison.
On April 26, Mancha pleaded guilty to a count of knowingly and intentionally possess with intent to distribute a quantity of more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Mancha tried to smuggle nearly 28 pounds of cocaine through the Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge on Feb. 14, 2021.
Mancha said she was going to be paid to deliver the drugs to a person at a Walmart store in Brownsville, the federal criminal complaint states.
The woman was driving a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country across the bridge when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers referred her vehicle to a secondary inspection area.
It was at this inspection area officers found 12 black taped wrapped packages, the federal criminal complaint states.
A field test was conducted on the packages by the officers, and it was determined they contained 12.68 kilograms of cocaine.
According to the federal criminal complaint, Mancha said that she was recruited to bring the narcotics from Mexico and was to be paid about $500.
After Mancha completes her federal prison sentence, she will serve an additional three years of supervised release, federal court documents state.
She remains in federal custody.
