BOISE -- Benjamin Perez-Gonzalez will serve 13 years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Tom Moss announced today.

Perez-Gonzalez, 51, and his partner, Maria Hernandez, both of Nampa, were arrested on October 25, 2006, following an eight-month investigation into the couple’s methamphetamine trafficking operation. 

The investigation was conducted by the Idaho State Police, Canyon County City-County Narcotics Unit, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Beginning in March 2006 and continuing until October 25, 2006, federal agents and local police officers purchased large amounts of meth from both Perez-Gonzalez and Hernandez at several locations in Nampa. 

Both were charged in federal court on several counts of drug trafficking.  Perez-Gonzalez pled guilty in April 2007.  Hernandez was found guilty of several counts of drug trafficking after a jury trial in April 2007. 

Perez-Gonzalez was sentenced on June 28, by U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise. 

After serving his 13-year prison sentence, Perez-Gonzales will be on supervised release for five years.  Because he was in the United States illegally, he will most likely be deported.  Perez-Gonzalez also agreed to forfeit his interest in a large amount of cash seized from him during his arrest and two real properties in Nampa.

Hernandez will be sentenced on August 20th.  The court has yet to decide whether she will be required to forfeit her interest in the two Nampa properties named in the Indictment.