Idaho drug ring 'enforcer' sentenced to more than 12 years

POCATELLO, Idaho – A Caldwell man who admitted being an "enforcer" who collected money owed to an Idaho drug ring was sentenced to 151 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Noe Gonzalez, 29, pleaded guilty last August. His co-conspirator, Vanessa Campos, 25, also of Caldwell, was sentenced to 47 months in prison. She pleaded guilty to the same charge last October. According to court records, police located a white tube sock hidden in the dashboard of a vehicle driven by Gonzalez. In the sock they found a zip lock bag containing baggies of methamphetamine totaling nearly 100 grams.

The drug discovery followed a February 2013 traffic stop by Idaho State Police. Campos and her sister were with Gonzalez in the car at the time of the stop. Police impounded the vehicle and obtained a search warrant that turned up the methamphetamine and a hand gun. Recorded calls between Campos and her sister revealed that Campos planned to get the vehicle out of police impound and recover the methamphetamine before it was discovered by law enforcement. By the time Campos recovered the vehicle, the police had already located the drugs.

Campos’s sister and co-defendant, Angelica Campos, pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge in October 2013. She is scheduled to be sentenced March 17 in Pocatello.

The indictment was the result of an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), including the Idaho State Police; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; the Bonneville County, Madison County, Bingham County, Fremont County sheriff’s offices; the Idaho Falls and Rexburg police departments; the FBI; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho is prosecuting the case.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.