U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California issued the following announcement on Oct. 17.
A federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against Gildardo Barrios, 40, and Marisa Munguia, 40, both of Chowchilla, and Maria Barrios-Alvarez, 44, of Stockton, charging them with multiple counts of distributing narcotics, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. Barrios and Barrios-Alvarez were also charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, over the course of a year and a half, Barrios sold methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin to a confidential informant on several occasions in the Stockton area. On at least two occasions, Barrios did not deliver the narcotics himself, but had Munguia or Barrios-Alvarez meet the informant to deliver the drugs and receive payment on Barrios’ behalf.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the San Joaquin County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Conolly is prosecuting the case.
All three defendants are currently in federal custody, awaiting trial.
If convicted, Barrios faces a statutory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, up to a maximum life, and a $10 million fine. Munguia and Barrios-Alvarez each face a statutory minimum sentence of five years in prison, with a maximum of 40 years, and a $5 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Original source can be found here.
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