CLOVIS, NEW MEXICO. -- One of Eastern New Mexico's most notorious drug dealers has been found guilty of Trafficking Cocaine, Ninth Judicial District Attorney Matthew Chandler announced.
Jaime Salazar, 26, was found guilty of the second degree felony after a full day of trial.
In February 2011, Chandler said the Region 5 Drug Task Force received information about a large amount of cocaine being delivered to the Kings Inn Hotel in Clovis for distribution purposes.
Surveillance was set up at the hotel and caught a truck pull into the parking lot that matched a vehicle tip description. According to Chandler, further investigation led agents to discover $53,000 in cash, 312 grams of cocaine and two handguns in Salazar's truck.
Salazar was immediately arrested but was released the next day on a $60,000 bond, Chandler said.
"This defendant is one of the areas most notorious drug dealers," Assistant District Attorney Jared Morris said. "I am pleased that the jury carefully examined the evidence and convicted him despite his self-serving testimony that he knew nothing about the drugs in his truck."
It was requested to the Court that Salazar's bond be revoked and for him to be taken into police custody until sentencing.
According to Assistant District Attorney Morris, while pending trial, Salazar picked up new trafficking methamphetamine charges in Portales. He said the only way to ensure Salazar stop trafficking drugs was him to be taken into custody immediately.
Ninth Judicial District Judge Stephen Quinn denied the request and allowed for Salazar to remain out on bond at his home until the sentencing hearing, Chandler said. That hearing should be set within the next three months.
Salazar faces a maximum sentence of nine years in the Department of Corrections.
"The District Attorney's Office is prepared to ask the Court to sentence Salazar to spend the next 9 years of his life behind bars for bringing these drugs in our community for distribution purposes," Chandler said. "In addition, the State was able to confiscate the $53,000 in cash as it was proven in court to be used to advance criminal activity, and now that money may be used by law enforcement to continue to fight the war against drug dealers like Salazar."
