Amarilloan gets 7 years in mail-order drug case

Excerpt

An Amarillo man will serve more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-related charges.
George Anthony Zuniga was sentenced Thursday in Amarillo's U.S. District Court to a…

An Amarillo man will serve more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-related charges.

George Anthony Zuniga was sentenced Thursday in Amarillo's U.S. District Court to an 87-month federal prison term, according to court records filed Friday. Zuniga earlier pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting.

On March 25, Amarillo police received a report from Federal Express that the company received a box to deliver that was damaged and smelled of marijuana. The company opened one of 10 cans inside the box and found what appeared to be marijuana, according to Zuniga's plea bargain in the case.

Amarillo police obtained a search warrant for the box and found 10 pounds of marijuana contained in the cans. An Amarillo police officer interviewed a FedEx driver who said he had delivered a package March 24 to 909 S. Birmingham St. in Amarillo. While making the delivery, the driver noticed that a man emerged from a nearby house and then went inside 909 S. Birmingham.

On April 3, a police officer collected trash from a dumpster near 907 S. Birmingham. In the dumpster, the officer found a bag for a small safe, Zuniga's W-2 form, mail addressed to Zuniga, an envelope addressed to Irma Carrasco that listed her address as 907 S. Birmingham and and ATM receipts with her name on them.

The officer also found two metal cans consistent with lids on metal cans found in the FedEx box and a small amount of methamphetamine in a baggie.

The same day, an Amarillo officer obtained a search warrant for 907 S. Birmingham. The following day, about 6 p.m., Amarillo police executed the warrant at that address. Before executing the warrant, officers saw Zuniga and Carrasco drive away from the house in a van. Police stopped the pair and found about $4,000 inside Carrasco's purse.

During the house search, officers found $81,000 in cash in a safe, about 5 ounces of methamphetamine in another safe and about 6 pounds of marijuana in a closet. In total, police said they discovered more than 8 pounds of marijuana in the home. According to court records, officers also found a ledger consistent to drug trafficking that documented tens of thousands of dollars in transactions.

Zuniga, who faces revocation in another Lubbock federal case, must serve four years of supervised release when he is freed from federal prison.

As part of Zuniga's plea, he also must forfeit a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol, a .38-caliber Colt revolver and 105 rounds of ammunition.

In August, Carrasco pleaded guilty to a charge of misprision of a felony and still faces sentencing. The charge alleged Carrasco had knowledge of the commission of a felony crime and failed to report it to authorities.