Man facing up to 17 years in drug case
‘Mid-level’ drug dealer from Mexico admits conspiring to traffic heroin
A “mid-level” drug dealer who authorities said sold heroin to users and other dealers in the Albuquerque for years pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic heroin in a case that left one of his customers dead.
Rosendo Flores Angulo’s plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to 14 to 17 years, though his sentencing hearing hasn’t been scheduled. He pleaded guilty Wednesday morning before federal Magistrate Judge William Lynch to conspiracy to distribute heroin.
A Mexican national, Flores Angulo, 39, will face deportation after he serves his prison sentence.
Prosecutors said in court Wednesday that Flores Angulo, who used several aliases, sold small balls of heroin wrapped in aluminum foil throughout Albuquerque.
David Hutchinson, 31, a low-level dealer whom Flores Angulo supplied, was also charged in the case.
According to an indictment, Flores Angulo sold Hutchinson heroin and Hutchinson then sold $20 of that heroin on April 29, 2015, to a user identified in court documents as “DJ.”
DJ used the heroin at his parents’ home that night, and collapsed and died, prosecutors said.
A medical toxicologist was expected to testify at Flores Angulo’s trial that DJ died from the heroin, prosecutors said in court.
New Mexico has one of the highest rates for deaths caused by opioid overdoses. U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez said in a statement that, even though the man used a small amount of heroin, it was lethal.
“Hundreds of people die each year in New Mexico from heroin and opioid overdoses. As the facts of this case demonstrate, there is no safe threshold for heroin use and even a very small dose of heroin — just one-quarter of a gram in this case — can be lethal,” Martinez said. “Heroin users and distributors need to understand that they are playing Russian roulette and every dose of heroin is another round in the cylinder.”
Hutchinson has also pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, according to court documents.