LONG TIME FUGITIVE SENTENCED TO MAXIMUM PRISON TERM FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

HOUSTON, TX - Efren Patino-Prado, 35, of McAllen, Texas, a long time fugitive convicted earlier this year of a 1997 conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute hundreds of pounds of cocaine and thousands of pounds of marijuana, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Friday, October 27, 2006, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

Patino-Prado was indicted in May 1998, but fled the United States to the United Mexican States. Sometime thereafter he returned to the United States, aware of the outstanding warrant for his arrest, under an assumed name - Ireneo Lozano, Jr. In 2003, Patino-Prado was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, under his assumed name by the Drug Enforcement Administration for conspiring to distribute more marijuana. Subsequently convicted of those charges in 2004, Patino-Prado was sentenced to 70 months in prison. In May 2005, Patino-Prado was transferred to Houston from the federal prison facility in Beaumont, Texas, to face the long-standing charges in this district. On Friday, United States District Judge Ewing Werlein sentenced Patino-Prado to the maximum prison term he faced - 20 years of imprisonment - and further ordered that he begin serving this lengthy prison term only after he completes the previously imposed 70-month sentence imposed by the court in Georgia.

Patino-Prado was convicted in February 2006 following a three-day jury trial. During the trial, the United States proved that in September and October 1997, Patino-Prado and his co-defendants transported 245 kilograms of cocaine and 915 kilograms of marijuana via tractor trailer from McAllen, Texas, to Chicago, Illinois, for distribution.

The cocaine and marijuana were secreted underneath a shipment of limes inside a tractor trailer loaded in McAllen, Texas. The tractor trailer transported the cocaine and marijuana from McAllen, Texas, to Chicago, Illinois. Once in Chicago, the tractor trailer was driven to a warehouse. Tips from confidential sources alerted the FBI in Houston and Chicago of the shipment, and agents followed the tractor trailer to a warehouse in Chicago and ultimately seized the huge drug load.

Patino-Prado was the owner of the drug load and coordinated the activities of the group to load, secret and transport the large drug shipment from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to Chicago, Illinois. The maximum 20 year sentence imposed by Judge Ewing Werlein assesses additional time for Patino-Prado's managerial role in the drug trafficking conspiracy.

Patino-Prado was charged along with five co-defendants, all of whom were long ago convicted and sentenced to prison terms for their role in the conspiracy.

This drug trafficking case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stuart A. Burns and Samuel Louis.