Bakersfield-area man sentenced to 5 years in prison for cocaine smuggling
Over $3.1 million cash to be forfeited
FRESNO, Calif. — A Bakersfield-area man was sentenced in federal court Monday to five years in prison on cocaine trafficking charges for his role in a scheme that led to the seizure of more than $3 million in cash.
Jimmy Gil, aka Joselin Jimelet Gil Sanchez, aka Joselin Gil, aka Gilberto Sanchez, 35, of Shafter, was sentenced for conspiring with two men in Mexico to import and distribute more than 80 pounds of cocaine. The charges are the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force, the sheriff’s offices in Kern and Tulare counties, and the Bakersfield Police Department.
“Through our joint enforcement efforts, we’ve dismantled a criminal organization that posed a serious public safety threat, as evidenced by the amount of cocaine seized,” said Michael Toms, resident agent in charge for HSI Bakersfield. “As this sentence demonstrates, HSI is working closely with its law enforcement partners to prevent these dangerous and addictive drugs from reaching our streets and ensure the perpetrators of such attempts are brought to justice.”
Gil’s sentencing follows his guilty plea in May where he admitted conspiring with the driver of a tractor trailer containing Mexican cocaine smuggled into the U.S. through a San Diego-area port of entry to Bakersfield. After Gil took possession of the tractor trailer, he and an accomplice began unloading packages of cocaine from a hidden compartment in the underside of the trailer. Gil and his accomplice were arrested before they could unload all of the cocaine concealed in the trailer. Follow-up investigation resulted in agents seizing $3.1 secreted inside an asphalt roller at the residence of one of Gil’s associates. The seized cocaine has a street value of more than $3 million.
“This investigation began with a tremendous amount of inter-agency coordination and finished with good old fashioned police work. The forfeiture of $3.1 million has dealt a substantial blow to this criminal organization and these illicit proceeds will be put back into communities through local law enforcement efforts,” stated DEA acting special agent in charge Bruce C. Balzano.
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