A 40-year-old Carson City man who delivered cocaine three times to undercover officers was sentenced Tuesday to six years in Nevada State Prison.
Speaking through an interpreter, Trinidad Garcia-Lugo said he made the transactions because he needed money for medicine to preserve his mother's eyesight.
"I want to ask you to forgive me. I am very regretful," Garcia-Lugo said. "I did it to help my mother. She's losing her sight. I felt trapped. I didn't have any money to give her."
"Would she rather lose her sight or lose her son?" District Judge Dave Gamble asked.
"I would rather she see me some day," Garcia-Lugo said.
Lawyer Derrick Lopez said Garcia-Lugo had not been in trouble before and had no idea of the punishment for trafficking.
"He never would have agreed to do this for $150," Lopez said.
Garcia-Lugo must serve a minimum of two years before he is eligible for parole.
"This material you sold is poisonous to our children. That's why the penalty is so high, perhaps not high enough," Gamble said.
He gave Garcia-Lugo credit for 77 days incarcerated in Douglas County Jail.
According to investigators, Garcia-Lugo has been deported twice.
A hold was placed on him by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
n A 22-year-old California man was sentenced to probation Tuesday for statutory sexual seduction, admitting he had sex with a 14-1/2-year-old girl.
District Judge Dave Gamble suspended a 30-month-sentence in Nevada State Prison and gave Dustin Casebeer of Chico, Calif., three years probation.
Casebeer claimed the victim led him to believe she was 22, based on her MySpace.com Web site.
"It appears everyone accepted your explanation," Gamble said. "I have no reason not to. If you live your life based on things you read on the Internet, you're going to find yourself right back in front of some judge."
Gamble told Casebeer, originally charged with five felony counts of sexual assault, he'd received a substantial break.
"If you violate your probation, I'm going to send you to prison," he said.
He gave Casebeer credit for 82 days served in Douglas County Jail.
Eleven Douglas County sheriff's officers responded to the Holiday Lodge in Minden on Nov. 29 after they were told of a possible kidnapping involving a female juvenile.
The girl told deputies that her mother dropped her off at a Paradise, Calif., middle school that morning and she ran into Casebeer whom she described as an ex-boyfriend.
She said he ordered her to get in his vehicle and he drove to Minden where he checked into the motel. She said he handcuffed her and raped her five times after she refused to have sex with him. She said she didn't try to escape because the suspect said he had a gun, but she never saw a weapon.
Lawyer Tod Young said there were credibility problems with the girl's story including the fact that she said she was 22.
"He took her home to meet his family. He thought he had fallen in love," Young said.
