RENO – A Reno man was returned to the US from Mexico the place he was arrested on a federal warrant for drug trafficking violations. On December 13, 2022, the defendant made his preliminary look within the Southern District of California and was ordered detained.
In June 2022, a federal grand jury in Reno charged Nassrollah Behmard, also called “Benny” and “Michael Holt,” 64, with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, six counts of distribution of a methamphetamine, and conspiracy to cash launder. Behmard’s subsequent courtroom date is December 27, 2022.
In 2014, Behmard fled to Mexico to keep away from being arrested for his involvement in Washoe County drug trafficking case. In March 2022, the FBI discovered that Behmard, who was nonetheless in Mexico, was conspiring with co-conspirators situated in Reno and Los Angeles to distribute of multi-pound portions of methamphetamine within the Reno. From March 2022 to June 2022, Behmard was answerable for distributing over 140 kilos of methamphetamine.
On June 6, 2022, Behmard organized with co-conspirator Ramon Guadalupe Sanchez Maldonado to ship 100 kilos of methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Reno. Legislation enforcement efficiently intercepted the methamphetamine and traced it again to a clandestine lab situated within the Los Angeles space. Legislation enforcement dismantled the lab and seized roughly 1,000 kilos of methamphetamine.
In June 2022, Behmard and co-conspirators Owen Eugene Dick, 58, Melissa Ann Longo, 46, Ramon Guadalupe Sanchez Maldonado, 51, and Jesus Sanchez Vargas, 22, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and associated offenses together with cash laundering. All apart from Behmard, who was nonetheless in Mexico on the time, have been arrested in July 2022.
If convicted, Behmard faces a most statutory penalty of life in jail. There’s a 10-year obligatory minimal time period of imprisonment.
U.S. Lawyer Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada and Particular Agent in Cost Spencer L. Evans for the FBI made the announcement.
The FBI Northern Nevada Protected Streets Process Power, comprised of FBI, Reno Police Division, Carson Metropolis Sheriff’s Workplace, Nevada Gaming and Management Board, Nevada Division of Corrections, and Douglas County Sheriff’s Workplace, investigated the case with help by the FBI Los Angeles Discipline Workplace, the San Bernardino Police Division, DEA, and ATF. Assistant U.S. Lawyer Andolyn Johnson is prosecuting the case.
This case was a part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Process Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, cash launderers, gangs, and transnational prison organizations that threaten the US through the use of a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency method that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and native regulation enforcement companies in opposition to prison networks. Further details about the OCDETF Program might be discovered at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed harmless till confirmed responsible past an inexpensive doubt in a courtroom of regulation.
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