“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Denisse Ahumada – Martínez avoided going to trial, she will remain in the custody of federal authorities pending her sentencing, which is scheduled for January 31, 2024.
Denisse Ahumada was arrested on June 10 at the Falfurrias, Texas checkpoint.
Denisse Ahumada-Martínez, who was serving as a city councilwoman in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, when she was stopped at a checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, with 42 kilos of cocaine in her vehicle, pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge.
The 34-year-old former official was caught on June 10 by Border Patrol agents, who subjected her vehicle to an X-ray search and found multiple anomalies.
Upon further inspection, the agents found 42 kilos of cocaine distributed throughout the vehicle, with an estimated value of US$90,000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice in a press release.
Official documents show that the defendant accepted that this was not the first time she had trafficked drugs. Her lawyer even stated that the woman had received at least two threats to move the vehicle with the drugs.
Initially, a Texas judge dismissed the case due to problems in the process and ordered her release. However, she was subsequently arrested again and booked into the Hidalgo County Jail on another charge.
Now, after pleading guilty to a federal charge of possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of a controlled substance, she avoided going to trial and will remain in the custody of federal authorities awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for January 31, 2024.
It should be noted that Ahumada-Martínez faces the possibility of being sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of up to 10 million dollars.
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