15-year sentence for trafficking

A California real estate salesman was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking in the largest cocaine seizure in Carson Valley history.

Juan Carlos Medina, 34, of West Covina, Calif., must serve a minimum of five years before he is eligible for parole. He agreed to forfeit the vehicle he was driving when he was arrested in April with nearly 5 pounds of cocaine in the trunk of his car.

In determining the sentence, which could have been up to life in prison, District Judge Michael Gibbons said he took into account Medina's lack of prior criminal history and cooperation he provided to law enforcement.

"In my 26 years in Douglas County, I've only seen one case with more cocaine and one case of equal value with this amount of cocaine or any other drug approaching this amount," Gibbons said.

Medina apologized to the court.

"I want to apologize for putting the state of Nevada through all this and apologize to my family," Medina said.

Gibbons said if the cocaine had been distributed, Medina would have caused serious problems in the community.

"You certainly disappointed a lot of people and hurt a lot of people by this," Gibbons said. "You made a horrible choice."

Medina had been in Douglas County Jail on $250,000 cash bail since his arrest.

Deputies found the cocaine packaged in two 1-kilogram bricks in the trunk of Medina's vehicle. The cocaine had a street value of $250,000.

The arrests were made at the conclusion of a two-week investigation conducted by the sheriff's office Street Enforcement Team and the Tri-Net Task Force.