He helped move drugs for a Mexican cartel. This Pasco man had pounds of meth and cocaine

A 33-year-old convicted drug trafficker who’s been locked up most of his adult life is going back to prison for nearly 25 years.

Rosalio Emmanuel Sanchez was sentenced this week in Richland’s Federal Building for moving large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine throughout Eastern Washington.

The Pasco man was a member of the Bueno Drug Trafficking Organization, which is part of the Sinaloa cartel, according to a Department of Justice release.

Sanchez was one of six people indicted in April 2017. He was on trial in February in U.S. District Court.

A federal jury convicted him March 7 of distributing 50 grams or more of pure meth, and a second count of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing meth and 5 kilograms of cocaine.

Drugs imported from Mexico

Senior Judge Wm. Fremming Nielsen ordered Sanchez to serve two concurrent terms of 22 1/2 years.

He gave Sanchez an additional 2-year, 3-month term for violating the terms of a prior drug conviction.

Nielsen concluded at sentencing that the Bueno organization was responsible for importing, transporting and distributing hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs into the Eastern District of Washington, according to the release.

The judge agreed to write a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons recommending Sanchez serve his time at a facility in Lompoc, Calif., and that he be allowed to participate in the 500-hour drug treatment program.

After he gets out of prison, Sanchez will be on court supervision for 10 years.

Made attempts at ‘normal’ life

Court documents show that Sanchez’s lawyer, Roger J. Peven of Spokane, asked that his client be given a substantial reduction in the sentencing guidelines with a maximum prison term of 15 years.

Peven said Sanchez is getting more time than most would see for murder, rape, robbery or other violent crimes.

Sanchez has the support of a loving family, and has made attempts at a “normal” life in the short time that he has been free in adulthood, the attorney said.

“Fifteen years is already a long time,” Peven wrote in his sentencing memo. “To the extent that prison has a rehabilitative as well as a punitive mission, a sentence of more than half of a person’s life cannot be called rehabilitative.”

Sanchez reportedly was released from federal prison in late 2015 and soon began distributing pound quantities of meth and heroin in the Spokane area for the Bueno organization.

During the investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized more than 50 pounds of meth and 25 kilograms of cocaine, the news release said.

Drug trafficker taken off streets

U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Harrington commended the DEA agents, as well as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Spokane Police Department and Oregon State Patrol for their involvement in the case.

The investigation fell under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which provides supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies for handling drug-related crimes.

“Their seamless partnership resulted in the successful outcome of this matter,” Harrington added. “The sentence imposed by the court removes a drug trafficker from our streets and sends a clear message to others who may choose to engage in such criminal activity.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2019 at 12:49 PM.