United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jose Corona-Mata was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Jay Fitzpatrick.

Corona-Mata previously pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement on April 9, 2014, to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and one count of illegal entry into the United States following deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. According to the plea agreement, Corona-Mata admitted that, between May and November of 2012, he conspired with others to distribute methamphetamine in Northern California. When law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at his residence in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2012, they found $92,574 and pay/owe sheets indicative of drug trafficking. Methamphetamine seized elsewhere as evidence of the conspiracy in this case was 97-99% pure.

Corona-Mata also admitted that he had previously been deported from the United States to Mexico five times between 2003 and 2011, and that he had previously been convicted of a felony drug trafficking offense in 2010.

Corona-Mata, 32, of Michoacán, Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 28, 2013, for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, and for illegal entry into the United States following deportation.

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Lucy H. Koh, U.S. District Court Judge. In addition to the 14-year sentence for the drug conspiracy, Judge Koh also sentenced Corona-Mata to a concurrent 46-month prison sentence for the violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326, and a five year period of supervised release. The defendant has been in federal custody since Nov. 30, 2012.

Richard Cheng and Chinhayi Cadet are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case. This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.