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A 54-year-old man on Wednesday was sentenced to a little more than 21 years in federal prison for attempting to smuggle nearly 91 pounds of liquid methamphetamine into the United States.
Manuel Ignacio Ley Villa pleaded guilty on Nov. 28, 2023 to importing controlled substances, court records indicate.
The smuggling attempt happened on April 30, 2023 when Ley Villa attempted to enter the country to the Hidalgo port of entry while driving a maroon Chrysler Pacifica, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said in a news release.
When U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers noticed he appeared nervous, they referred him for a secondary inspection where an X-ray revealed anomalies in the vehicle’s fuel tank.
That’s where CBP officers found nearly 91 pounds of liquid meth that had an estimated street value of $810,000, according to the news release.
U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez noted in handing down the sentence that Ley Villa had previously been convicted for the same offense, the release stated.
Alvarez dismissed charges of attempted distribution of a controlled substance; conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance; and selling, distributing or dispensing a controlled substance based on an oral motion from federal prosecutors.
Ley Villa, a naturalized citizen who was living in Mexico, had reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
He has remained in custody and will be transferred to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future.
