MOBILE, AL – A Mexican national was sentenced today to 121 months in federal prison after a federal jury convicted him in October 2021 for possessing with intent to distribute 16 kilograms of cocaine.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Gilberto Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 44, of Houston, Texas, was driving a flatbed truck from Houston to Atlanta, Georgia when he was stopped by a Baldwin County sheriff’s deputy for a traffic violation on Interstate 65. The jury heard evidence that on January 25, 2021, Gonzalez had driven the truck from Texas to Alabama while his passenger and codefendant, Daniel Eric Corona, slept. Gonzalez and Corona lacked proper paperwork for the load that they were purporting to haul and had no valid proof of insurance.
During a consent search of the truck, deputies pried open a locked compartment and found a duffel bag containing 16 individually wrapped bundles of cocaine weighing more than 35 pounds in total. According to expert testimony presented at trial, the cocaine had a wholesale value of more than $500,000 and a street value of more than $6 million. The jury also reviewed evidence from Gonzalez’s cell phone containing images of cocaine and WhatsApp messages discussing “kilos” and prices of cocaine.
United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer ordered Gonzalez to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo testing for substance abuse. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered Gonzalez to pay $100 in special assessments.
Corona pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in September 2021. Judge Moorer sentenced him to serve a 70-month prison sentence in December 2021.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Roller and Deborah Griffin prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.