Ex-Baja CA Prosecutor’s Office Employee Sentenced for Cocaine Conspiracy

A former Baja California prosecutor’s office employee who drove a cocaine-laden vehicle into the United States was sentenced Wednesday in San Diego federal court to two years in prison.

Ana Sofia Lopez Osuna, 33, was arrested last year for driving a car loaded with about 55 pounds of cocaine from Mexico into the U.S., then handing the car over to a man in National City, according to her plea agreement.

That man, Oliver Alan Rosas Gomez, then took the car to a residence, unloaded the drugs and returned the car to Lopez Osuna, prosecutors said.

Lopez Osuna was stopped while driving her vehicle and officers found a non-factory compartment in the car’s rear bumper that turned out to be empty. Lopez Osuna claimed to officers that she had been shopping while on her lunch break from her job in Tijuana.

Rosas Gomez was arrested later at the home and court documents state the intention was for him to transport the drugs to Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Lopez Osuna pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute cocaine count earlier this year.

Then-Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Ivan Carpio told the San Diego Union-Tribune last year that Lopez Osuna began working for the prosecutor’s office in 2015 and her work largely involved “administrative tasks.”

A sentencing memorandum from her defense attorney, Antonio Cervantes, states her role at the prosecutor’s office was “as the assistant to the prosecutor.”

Both the prosecution and defense stated in their papers that Lopez Osuna’s role in the offense was minor compared to her co-defendant, though prosecutors wrote that Lopez Osuna “repeatedly transported significant quantities of illegal drugs across the border into the United States” and “received significant payments.”

While prosecutors allege the crimes were not committed due to “significant poverty,” Cervantes wrote that his client took part in the offense “to assist her mother with medical bills.”

— City News Service