Terra Bella meth trafficker sent to prison for 10 years

FRESNO — Michael Ramos, aka Michael Rodriguez Ramos of Terra Bella, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wanter announced.

“This case stems from a two-year Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force wiretap investigation that resulted in five indictments and the conviction of 13 defendants.” Wagner said in a press release issued Monday. “The multi-agency investigation led to the dismantling of a drug-trafficking organization based in the small farming communities of Terra Bella and Porterville.”

In sentencing Ramos, Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii considered evidence that Ramos obtained methamphetamine and cocaine from 26-year-old Adrian Negrete Hernandez, also of Terra Bella, for distribution. On March 4, Negrete was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana and for possessing firearms in furtherance of drug-trafficking crimes. Two firearms and $43,311 of drug-trafficking proceeds has been forfeited.

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force, Tulare and Kern County sheriff’s offices, and Bakersfield Police Department, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Fresno, Tulare, and Porterville police departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen A. Escobar is prosecuting the case.