Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

Manuel Alejandro Beltran-Quintero, 35, of Tucson, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps to 120 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release. Beltran-Quintero pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine and Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine on September 7, 2023. Five co-defendants also charged in this case pleaded guilty and received sentences of up to 68 months in prison.

On April 15, 2020, Beltran-Quintero coordinated the delivery of nearly 20 kilograms of cocaine in Tucson. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration successfully interdicted the drugs and arrested Beltran-Quintero and his co-conspirators. The investigation revealed that Beltran-Quintero had also coordinated the attempted smuggling of firearms to Mexico on three separate occasions in late 2019, all of which were intercepted by law enforcement.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

The Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stefani Hepford and Ashley Culver, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.