Kansas couple sentenced for role in drug ring that distributed meth from Mexico
A Kansas couple was sentenced to federal prison for its role in a drug ring that distributed methamphetamine from Mexico in the Kansas City metro area, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney in Kansas Tuesday.
A federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, sentenced 41-year-old Marlon Gutierrez to 21 years and 8 months and 43-year-old Karen Ortega to 14 years in federal prison.
Gutierrez and Ortega previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess meth with the intent to distribute it, according to the release.
In their pleas, according to the release, the couple admitted to renting a house from a co-defendant in the 3000 block of North 34th Street in Kansas City, Kansas, where they lived with Ortega’s children.
That co-defendant, Edelfonso Gonzalez-Gonzalez, was sentenced last month to 30 years in prison, according to court documents.
A condition of their rental agreement required that the couple monitor the property including a detached garage where drug traffickers stored narcotics. Gutierrez, who was a drug courier for Gonzalez-Gonzalez, had a key to the garage.
When investigators served a search warrant on the property, they found about 20 pounds of meth, 1.8 pounds of heroin and more than $230,000 in cash during their search.
In her plea, Ortega admitted that federal investigators had her under surveillance when she met another conspirator in the Walmart parking lot in the 10800 block of Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas, and sold about two pounds of meth for $4,500.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 1:10 PM.
