Convicted drug courier gets 4-plus-year sentence

SAN JOSE >> A city resident who was convicted of acting as a drug courier for a group that collectively sold hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin was sentenced to four years and six months in federal prison, court records show.

Manuel Sanchez-Pedraza was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman after pleading guilty to a methamphetamine distribution charge. Prosecutors say that in August 2021, Sanchez-Pedraza was caught with 44 pounds of the drug — worth an estimated $36,000 wholesale — during a traffic stop.

Sanchez-Pedraza was one of five people charged in connection with the drug ring, which authorities say was linked to the sale of 198 pounds of methamphetamine, 40 pounds of cocaine and 10 pounds of heroin. Two of his codefendants have been sentenced, receiving wildly different outcomes; Edgar Portillo received no jail time and three years probation, while the alleged dispatcher of the drug ring, 24-year-old Raul JimenezVerduzco, was given seven years in prison last January.

In a letter to the court, Sanchez-Pedraza wrote that he regretted his action and didn't know how “harsh” the penalty would be. Prosecutors asked for a 92-month prison term, which they described as lenient, noting that federal guidelines suggested a 12year prison term.

“During the pandemic I lost my job, which led me to make mistaken decisions that today I regret, and if I could go back to that time I would have acted differently,” SanchezPedraza wrote. “Nevertheless, I am prepared to face my mistakes and not to flee — as everyone is advising me to do — because I am not a coward and won't go running down to Mexico.”