Friday, November 6, 2009

Drug trafficker gets prison time

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By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Francisco Llamas-Espino

A Blaine County man who earlier admitted to trafficking in cocaine was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.

Francisco Llamas-Espino, a 35-year-old man who lived mid-valley, is required to spend four years incarcerated before parole eligibility. After release, according to Blaine County court records, he will be deported. Court records further state that Llamas-Espino has been deported twice before.

Llamas-Espino pleaded guilty to the charge in July in accord with a plea agreement with the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. In exchange, a second felony cocaine charge against him was dismissed.

Sentence was pronounced in Blaine County 5th District Court by Judge John K. Butler. Llamas-Espino remained incarcerated Thursday in the Blaine County jail awaiting pickup by the Idaho Department of Correction.

The case brings to a close the disposition of five criminal cases arising from a major cocaine and methamphetamine bust in February and March by the Blaine County Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Three other men alleged to be in the United States illegally were previously sentenced to prison for various cocaine-related convictions. Lesdi Gabriel Parra-Quinones, a 25-year-old Blaine County man, and Jose De Garcia-de Loera, a 35-year-old resident of The Meadows trailer park, were sentenced to six years each. Jose Alberto Vera-Hidalgo, 29, of Hailey, received a five-year sentence.

The fifth man, Benjamin C. Wagstaff, a 28-year-old mid-valley resident, was given a chance at rehabilitation and sentenced to 180 days at the North Idaho Correctional Facility in Cottonwood. He pleaded guilty to a single count of delivery of methamphetamine in exchange for two other felony drug charges being dismissed.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com