Titus County Man Sentenced for Drug Trafficking Violation
Posted/updated on: March 2, 2012 at 3:10 pm
TYLER – A Mt. Pleasant man has been sentenced in Tyler federal court to prison for drug trafficking crimes. Ernesto Valles Moreno, 42, pleaded guilty last April to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced yesterday to 150 months in federal prison by U.S. District judge Michael H. Schneider.
Co-defendant Hector Nieto, 40, pleaded guilty on November 2, 2010, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison on August 31, 2011. Nieto was also ordered to forfeit ownership of commercial property in Mt. Pleasant, Texas valued at $93,000.00, a 2005 GMC, K3500 pickup truck, and $21,473.47 in US Currency.
According to federal prosecutors, in July 2009, Nieto and Moreno knowingly delivered approximately three kilograms of cocaine to others with instructions to transport the cocaine to Chicago, Illinois for sale and distribution. They were indicted by a federal grand jury on July 14, 2010 and charged with federal drug trafficking crimes.
