Mexican citizen sentenced in Northern California case involving meth, heroin and guns

A Mexican citizen who was living in Tehama County was sentenced Thursday for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, according to the United States Attorney’s Office in Sacramento.

Miguel Alvarez Cervantes, who pleaded guilty last July, received a nine-year prison sentence of nine years, according to a news release from the office of McGregor W. Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California. Court records indicate Cervantes, 55, and co-defendant Maria Cervantes-Echevarria had been under investigation since 2017 by federal agents who suspected them of trafficking methamphetamine in Shasta and Tehama counties.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said an undercover agent purchased more than three pounds of methamphetamine in three purchases between August and September of 2018.

A search warrant was issued for a Los Molinos home shared by Cervantes, Cervantes-Echevarria and another co-defendant, Marta Jiminez Lopez, in September 2018, leading to the seizure of more than 34 pounds of methamphetamine, three pounds of heroin, three guns and more than $44,000 in cash, the release shows.

Cervantes-Echevarria and Lopez have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and are scheduled to be sentenced in March, Scott’s office said.

This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 4:57 PM.