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A February 2022 traffic stop in Harlingen resulted in a 25-year prison sentence on Tuesday for the man who was driving the vehicle, according to a news release from Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz.
A jury in 197th state District Court found Armando Gomez guilty of possession of a controlled substance, specifically more than 400 grams of cocaine.
Judge Adolfo Cordova of the 197th state District Court heard the case and pronounced sentence.
According to the release, deputies with the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office stopped a vehicle driven by Gomez for a traffic infraction, during which the deputy observed tooling marks on the dashboard that from the deputy’s training and experience were consistent with after-market voids used to smuggle narcotics.
Upon gaining consent to search the vehicle, the deputy located a brick wrapped in black tape containing a white powdery substance consistent with and later confirmed by the lab to be cocaine.
In total, the brick weighed approximately 1 kilo or 1,070 grams.
Gomez later admitted to having additional cocaine on his person. He was then arrested and taken into custody.
In a statement, Saenz thanked the sheriff’s department and its deputies for getting the narcotics off the streets.
“We live in increasingly dangerous times. Cocaine on its own is a dangerous drug, but dealers are adding fentanyl to cocaine to increase potency. It is not an exaggeration that such a combination can kill, not after some prolonged exposure but almost immediately. Please say no to drugs. It can save your life,” Saenz stated.
