A Corpus Christi meth trafficker known as “Diablo” will serve nearly 17 years in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Tony “Diablo” Maldonado, 58, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine Feb. 1, 2024, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a news release.
He was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in federal prison for meth trafficking and two supervised release violations, Hamdani said.
U.S. District Judge David S. Morales sentenced Maldonado to 188 months in federal prison, which will be immediately followed by five years of supervised release in the meth case.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge was told Maldonado was on supervised release for two other federal drug cases, one from 2000 involving meth and one from 2013 for possession with intent to distribute heroin, when he was arrested again for distributing narcotics.
The judge also was told Maldonado was a longtime member of the Texas Syndicate prison gang.
After sentencing Maldonado in the meth case, the judge considered the two supervised release violations, and Maldonado was sentenced to 50 months in the 2000 meth case and 24 months for the 2013 heroin case.
The court ordered the 50-month sentence to be served concurrently and 12 of the 24 months to run consecutively to the current sentence for a total of 200 months in federal prison, the news release said.
During sentencing, the judge noted Maldonado’s extensive criminal history and said there must be consequences for violating supervised release.
Authorities said that in mid-2023, law enforcement discovered Maldonado was distributing narcotics from his elderly parent’s home. After investigating for several months, law enforcement got a federal search warrant that they executed Aug. 29, 2023, which led to the seizure of 83.86 grams, or nearly 3 ounces, of heroin, 39.34 grams, or around 1.4 ounces, of meth and jail letters confirming his active status in the Texas Syndicate prison gang.
Maldonado will remain in custody as he awaits transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility, which will be determined later.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation with help from the FBI, the Corpus Christi Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.
The goal of the task forces is to dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara J. De Pena and Brittany Jensen prosecuted the case.
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