Mexican National Sentenced After I-84 Stop Leads To Discovery Of Cocaine

A Mexican national who has previously been deported from the United States is going to spend the next five years behind bars after pleading guilty to trafficking nearly five kilograms of cocaine in an around Fairfield County.

U.S. District Court in Hartford.
Photo Credit: *File*

Zak Failla

05/07/2018 7:41 p.m.

John Durham, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced on Monday that 44-year-old Luis Palacios Ortiz, who is a citizen of Mexico has been sentenced to 60 months in prison, following by 10 years of supervised released for drug and immigration offenses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Feb. 13, 2017, Connecticut State Police troopers stopped a car that Ortiz was driving on I-84 near Waterbury. During the subsequent search of the vehicle, approximately 4.5 grams of cocaine were recovered.

Ortiz has been convicted of at least six federal immigration offenses since 1999, Durham noted, and he was previously deported from multiple times, last in September 2015.

He’s been detained since his arrest and two days after that he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, and one count of reentry of a removed alien. When his prison term is concluded, he will be deported.

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