Las Vegas woman pleads guilty to federal drug charges

POCATELLO, Idaho — A Las Vegas woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to distribution of methamphetamine, following an investigation by the Idaho Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Sadith Chavez-Perez, 23, was arrested in May 2013 in Ely, Nevada, while transporting a methamphetamine load to Idaho. In the vehicle officers found more than 1,300 grams of actual methamphetamine.

According to court records, in March 2013, Chavez-Perez and a co-defendant met with an undercover officer posing as a drug buyer in a Meridian parking lot. At the meeting, Chavez-Perez discussed future drug transactions with the officer. About two weeks later, Chavez-Perez made arrangements to provide five ounces of methamphetamine to the officer, later that day court records state she delivered on that promise. Then in May 2013, she arranged another delivery, this time for two pounds of methamphetamine. It was while she was heading to meet the undercover officer that she was stopped by police and arrested with the drugs.

The charge is punishable by up to 10 years to life in prison and a maximum fine of $10 million. Chavez-Perez scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 5.

The case was the result of a joint OCDETF investigation, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, in conjunction with HSI, the Meridian Police Department and the Ada County Sheriff's Office. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Idaho District prosecuted the case.

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