LaGrange man sentenced for drugs
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on December 12, 2016 5:52 AM
NEW BERN -- The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina has announced that in federal court on Dec. 6, United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced Huberto Espindola-Soto, 37, of LaGrange to 146 months in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Espindola-Soto pleaded guilty to the charges in June. He is expected to be sentenced in February.
The case is part of operation "Smoking' Aces" in which law enforcement agencies are trying to stem the flow of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into eastern North Carolina and the rest of state. The Wayne County and Lenoir County sheriff's offices assisted in the investigation.