In meth trial, man guilty of conspiracy to distribute

A California man was convicted Thursday of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, four months after his arrest at a Springdale hotel, said the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Jose Rivera-Navas, 39, was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville of one count of conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine after a jury trial presided over by U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren, according to a news release issued by U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge on Thursday.

Rivera-Navas, a native of El Salvador and resident of California, will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a punishment ranging from 10 years to life in prison.

According to evidence presented to the jury, the case began June 25 at the Union Bus Station in Oklahoma City whenpolice with that city’s Narcotics Interdiction Unit noticed a man, Steven Ingrahm. Suspicious, the officers gained Ingrahm’s consent to search his luggage, where they found a box of methamphetamine.

Ingrahm “admitted that he was transporting approximately 2 pounds of methamphetamine to a contact known as ‘Mara’ in Springdale, Arkansas,” according to the release, and agreed to work as an informant and carry on with the delivery. Equipped with a recording device, Ingrahm delivered the meth to “Mara,” later identified as Rivera-Navas.

After Rivera-Navas exited the hotel with the methamphetamine inside his pants, police arrested him. Agencies investigating the case were the Oklahoma City Police Department interdiction unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration offices in Fayetteville and Oklahoma.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 11/01/2013

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