A Brownsville woman has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count smuggling methamphetamine.
Carmen Cepeda, age unknown, appeared Thursday before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. who handed down the 72-month prison sentence to be followed two years supervised release, federal court documents reflect.
Cepeda pleaded guilty Sept. 27, 2022 to one count of possession with intent to distribute 38.36 pounds of methamphetamine.
Cepeda’s defense attorney, Rene DeCoss requested that her sentence be at the lower end of the sentencing scale because she suffers from mental issues, federal court document reflect.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed Aug. 11, 2020, Cepeda tried to cross into the United States from Mexico via the Veterans International Bridge. She gave a negative declaration that she was transporting fruit, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, drugs, and currency over $10,000.
Cepeda’s Ford F-150 pickup truck was referred to a secondary inspection area, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered seven bags and one “package concealed inside the exhaust system of the vehicle,” the federal criminal complaint states.
The seven bags tested positive for methamphetamine and the one package consisting of a brown liquid substance was sent to a laboratory for further testing because CBP officer were unable to “determine its identity due to its consistency,” the federal criminal complaint said.
During a post arrest interview, Cepeda said she believed she was transporting U.S. currency, and that she had received instructions from persons in Matamoros to drive the truck across the bridge with the destination being either Corpus Christi or Houston, according to the federal criminal complaint.
The federal criminal complaint also stated that Cepeda she was paid $1,000 for her effort and that she further stated she had drove the same vehicle across an international boundary and later to Houston or Corpus Christi on three previous occasions. She added she received $3,000 as payment for her effort on those occasions.
