Riverbank man facing life in prison after arranging to sell meth to FBI informant
A Riverbank man is facing life in prison after pleading guilty on Monday to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Juan Carlos Cortez-Gomez, 51, was arrested Sept. 15, 2020, after an FBI informant contacted him about buying methamphetamine.
According to court documents, Cortez-Gomez sent a text message to the informant with an address where they would meet, an Arco gas station on Cherokee Road in Stockton.
The FBI coordinated with Stockton police and the California Highway Patrol to do a traffic stop on Cortez-Gomez. Inside his white GMC truck, authorities found 10 pounds of individually packaged methamphetamine.
During an interview with agents, Cortez-Gomez said he would get the drugs by calling a number and then going to a warehouse where someone would bring them out to his vehicle, according to court documents. He refused to tell agents anything more about the warehouse, including its location.
Cortez-Gomez is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 21 by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts, according to the release.
