Brazilian national sentenced for transporting meth at KC bus station, prosecutors say
A Brazilian national who was charged with transporting large amounts of methamphetamine from Dallas to Kansas City was sentenced to federal prison Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri said.
Evandro DaCruz-Mendes, 55, was sentenced to more than nine years in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty last October to one count of drug possession with the intent to distribute.
DaCruz-Mendes was arrested shortly after he arrived aboard a bus from Dallas, at the Greyhound bus station in Kansas City on Feb. 3, 2015. He was stopped by Kansas City police as he was about to get into a taxi.
Court records and prosecutors noted DaCruz-Mendes appeared to be “constantly looking around” and acting in a nervous manner. Detectives searched a duffel bag he was carrying and found two plastic-wrapped containers that contained nearly two kilograms of meth.
According to court records, DaCruz-Mendes told police he had traveled five or six times from Dallas to Kansas City, delivering the narcotics. Prosecutors said from these trips, he allegedly transported a total of nearly 12 kilograms of meth to the Kansas City area.
