FRESNO, Calif. — Mark Garcia, 25, of Lamont, was sentenced today to two years in prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.
According to court documents, in March 2021, Garcia and co-defendant Jorge Calderon-Campos, 44, a Mexican national residing in Bakersfield, received 26 pounds of methamphetamine from co-defendant Alberto Gomez-Santiago, 39, a Mexican national. Law enforcement officers later seized the drugs from Garcia’s vehicle during a traffic stop.
According to court documents, this drug transaction was one of many involving Calderon-Campos, who was the target of a federal wiretap investigation that resulted in the seizure of more than 86 pounds of methamphetamine and one kilogram of heroin. The wiretap investigation also uncovered an illegal cockfighting enterprise involving Calderon-Campos, who was charged in a second indictment with violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
Garcia was prosecuted for the 26-pound methamphetamine transaction in state court but was sentenced to only four days in jail. Both Gomez and Calderon-Campos pleaded guilty to federal drug charges and were sentenced to four years and nine months and eight years and one month in prison, respectively. Calderon-Campos was also sentenced to five years in prison for the animal fighting venture.
This case was the product of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Kern County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the Kern County Probation Department, and the Bakersfield Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.
The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. For more information, please visit Justice.gov/OCDETF.
