A Billings woman was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison for mailing meth to Montana after using her U.S. passport to carry it across the border from Mexico.
The defendant, Dawn Marie Guevara, 44, who was living in Tijuana, Mexico, was found guilty in a March trial of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute meth.
In a federal jury trial, Guevara was convicted of trafficking methamphetamine by using her U.S. passport to bring the drug across the Mexico border and into California and then mailing it to Montana for distribution. She was sentenced on Sept. 13 to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Guevara conspired with others to distribute pounds of meth in the Billings community from about July 2018 to December 2018, according to court documents. Law enforcement learned that Guevara, who was living in Mexico, was selling meth to an individual through social media orders and arranging to have another person in Billings receive the meth and complete the transaction.
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While living in Mexico, Guevara recruited her niece, Ashley Chesmore, to deliver the drugs. Chesmore was prosecuted in 2019 and sentenced to four years in federal prison for her role in the case.
Investigators determined that Guevara would obtain meth in Mexico, cross into the United States using her U.S. passport and mail the meth from a post office in San Ysidro. Money collected from sales was wired to Guevara in Mexico.
Border crossing information determined that Guevara entered the United States through the San Ysidro Port of Entry approximately 20 times between July 7, 2018, and Oct. 18, 2018. After her indictment in 2019, Guevara did not cross the border a single time between 2019 and 2023. Guevara was arrested in 2023 in the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Postal Service conducted the investigation. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Waters presided.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer.
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Publish date : 2024-09-16 07:15:00
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