Albuquerque Journal

Dealer sentenced to 27 years in prison for possessing 7 pounds of meth

- BY RYAN BOETEL JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

An Albuquerqu­e woman with ties to the Sinaloa cartel was sentenced to 27 years in prison for a drug traffickin­g conviction Monday.

A jury convicted Sandra Cook, 53, after a three-day trial in May. She was facing a possible life sentence.

Bundles of more than 7 pounds of methamphet­amine and $22,000 in cash were found when authoritie­s executed a search warrant at Cook’s home in June 2015, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico..

“There’s going to be a lot of wrecked lives, a lot of wrecked families” as a result of Cook’s drug dealing, U.S. District Court Judge William Johnson said during Cook’s sentencing hearing on Monday.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office detective Jerry Koppman said during the hearing that Cook was “very connected” with Sinaloa cartel members. He said Cook would receive meth from cartel members based in Arizona and she would then distribute the drugs to Albuquerqu­e-area dealers.

When she was arrested, authoritie­s found her with more than 400 grams of 100 percent pure meth, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Eric Hannum, Cook’s attorney, asked for a 15-year prison sentence. He said his client was sexually abused by her stepfather when she was 12 to 18. Hannum said in a sentencing memorandum that because of that abuse, Cook developed post-traumatic stress disorder and she’s used drugs to cope with that.

“I’m sorry. I’m just begging for mercy,” Cook said. “I just want to go home.”

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