MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 21-year-old California man was sentenced Thursday to 6 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute meth in the Twin Cities in 2010, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Judge Ann D. Montgomery sentenced Brandon Gonzalez of San Diego, Ca., to 72 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute meth in April 2010.
In his agreement, he admitted to transporting five pounds of meth from California to Minnesota in a car with some family members, including two of his children.
After entering his guilty plea, however, Gonzalez fled the halfway house where he had been ordered to stay and went to Mexico. Then in October of 2011, he turned himself into the U.S. Border Patrol, the department said.
Gonzalez’s co-defendants — 43-year-old Cesar Rivas and 44-year-old Phonesy Sydathong, both of Sacramento, Ca. — each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute meth in 2010. Judge Montgomery sentenced Rivas to more than 10 years in prison and she sentenced Sydathong to more than 5 years in prison.
