U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama issued the following announcement on Jan. 23.
United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announced that Linda Lancon, 30, of Laredo, Texas, was sentenced this morning for her participation in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute approximately 35 kilograms of cocaine. Lancon was convicted by a jury following a trial conducted in October of 2019.
United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer presided over the trial and the sentencing hearing. Evidence from the trial showed that Lancon was involved in the distribution of methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine during 2016 following an investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Laredo. She was identified as the owner of a vehicle used to deliver drugs for distribution. Agents participating in the investigation also identified her as being present with another member of the drug distribution conspiracy in Texas when drugs were delivered. She was living with a co-conspirator in Laredo who testified that she knew about the drug conspiracy, accompanied him on drug deliveries and counted the drug money. She also knew a source of supply for the drugs in Mexico. Other evidence established that Lancon was in a truck traveling northbound on Interstate 65 in Mobile County when it was stopped by Saraland police for no license plate. During the investigation that followed, officers discovered 35 kilograms of cocaine in the cab of the truck, concealed in a paper box behind the passenger seat. Lancon was the passenger in the truck, and the driver was identified as her co-defendant Victor Estrada. She had disassembled the cell phone Estrada was using to communicate with the people in Atlanta who were to take delivery of the drugs and concealed the parts of the phone in her purse while the officers spoke to Estrada.
In the subsequent investigation conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, a tracking device was discovered in the truck which was traced to a company in Laredo. Business records showed that Lancon opened the account used to track the truck and paid a monthly fee for the service on her credit card. The records also showed several prior trips to the Atlanta area as well as other locations up the East Coast. The records also coincided with information from Lancon’s telephone placing her in the Atlanta area during some of the prior trips. In addition, photographs on Lancon’s phone showed her in possession of large amounts of United States currency being removed from or placed into Federal Express boxes. Finally, records for Lancon’s cellphone showed it had been in contact with Estrada’s phone during 2017 and 2018. Estrada’s phone was the one used to communicate with the recipients of the drugs in Atlanta and the one she disassembled during the traffic stop.
At the sentencing hearing today, Judge Moorer reviewed some of this evidence as support for his decision that a substantial sentence was appropriate for Lancon. The judge found that the other trips documented by the tracker in the truck established that she had participated in the distribution of other drug loads equal to that for which she had been apprehended. The judge also found that, based on the evidence from the trial, she occupied a role in the offense which far exceeded her claim that she was just her co-defendant’s girlfriend. Judge Moorer sentenced Lancon to 300 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a term of five years supervised release. The judge did not impose a fine, but ordered that she pay the special mandatory assessment of $100. Judge Moorer sentenced Lancon’s co-defendant, Estrada, in October of 2019 to 30 years’ imprisonment following Estrada’s guilty plea to the charges.
The case was investigated by the Saraland Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security investigations. It was prosecuted in the United States Attorney’s Office by Assistant United States Attorney Gloria Bedwell.
Original source can be found here.
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