Mexican man sentenced to 10.5 years for smuggling nearly 3 tons of marijuana

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A man from Mexico was sentenced on Friday to 10.5 years in federal prison without parole for smuggling nearly three tons of marijuana, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. The investigation was conducted jointly by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol.

Osmar Dolmuz-Carcamo, 40, was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge John Rainey on Nov. 4. Dolmuz-Carcamo's incarceration will be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the one-count indictment after the first day of a jury trial that began April 25.

The charge stems from an investigation conducted by ICE HSI and the Border Patrol. In January, Dolmuz-Carcamo arrived at the Falfurrias, Texas, checkpoint driving a tractor trailer. A routine K-9 exam alerted Border Patrol agents to refer Dolmuz-Carcamo and his vehicle to secondary inspection. An x-ray examination and inspection discovered 316 bundles of marijuana wrapped in cellophane. The bundles were concealed within large wooden crates in the trailer. At the time of the seizure, law enforcement officials estimated the street value of the 2.9 tons of marijuana to be about $5 million.

Dolmuz-Carcamo has been in federal custody since his arrest. He will remain in custody and serve his sentence at a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Watt, Southern District of Texas, is prosecuting this case.