Eureka Drug Dealer Gets Eight Year Sentence

Previously deported illegal immigrant caught with firearm, meth

Humboldt Sentinel
12/9/08
By Sentinel Staff

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Mexican man deported nearly ten years ago after a felony assault was convicted in federal court last week for illegally re-entering the United States and possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.

Leopoldo Villegas-Villanueva, also known as Juan Lopez Ontiveros, was sentenced last Wednesday to 97 months in federal prison for the firearms, the drugs and the illegal entry into the country, in an announcement by United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer handed down the sentence, along with a three year period of supervised release.

Villegas-Villanueva, 32 entered a guilty plea on Sept. 10 under a plea agreement with the feds, admitting that on March 17 he possessed a firearm at his Eureka home in order to further his distribution of methamphetamine and marijuana. Villegas-Villanueva was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 8, and has been in custody since his arrest. He will begin his sentence immediately.

This last spring, Eureka Police Department officers responded to Villegas-Villanueva’s home after a 911 call was placed from the residence. After arriving at the scene, the police officers conducted an emergency search of the residence to confirm or dispel the need for emergency services. While conducting the search, the officers entered a bedroom and found ammunition and six firearms. The officers also found 28 grams of methamphetamine in the bedroom and approximately 14 kilograms (approximately 31 pounds) of marijuana in a nearby closet.

Villegas-Villanueva is a citizen of Mexico. He has never been a United States citizen. He was deported on July 12, 1999 following a 1997 conviction in Eureka for assault with a firearm on a person, a felony.

Derek Owens is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Hui Chen and Marina Ponomarchuk. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.