FRESNO— On April 22, 2019 Oscar Ivan Salazar-Avalos (Salazar), 29, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Salazar’s sentence follows his guilty plea last November.  According to court documents, Salazar and co-defendant Jose Manuel Sotelo-Mendoza, 26, of Ceres, delivered 15 pounds of methamphetamine to an undercover officer in Delano.  Salazar negotiated with the officer for the delivery of the drug for $3,400 per pound for a total of $51,000. Salazar and Sotelo met the source of supply in Castaic in the northern part of Los Angeles County to obtain the methamphetamine.

“This case is the outcome of many agencies on the local, state and federal level, working together,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona.  “Arresting someone who can provide 15 pounds of meth to a buyer has to put a dent in drug trafficking. Thank you to the agents and officers who investigate drug dealers and through undercover work, arrest these individuals and see these cases through to sentencing.”

Sotelo pleaded guilty on February 19.  He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 20.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, consisting of law enforcement officers of Homeland Security Investigations, California Highway Patrol, Bureau of Investigation of the California Department of Justice, Fresno Police Department, and Fresno County Sheriff’s Office