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Michigan Drug Trafficker Receives Life Sentence in Murder-for-Hire Conviction

Written by FEDagent on 01 November 2012. Posted in The Takedown

A man has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot that began in 2010 in Michigan, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Robert Corso announced this week.

According to the DEA, the charges stem from a June 2010 evening when a gunman entered an apartment complex in Littleton, Colo., and killed a man on his doorstep. Detectives followed leads back to the Detroit area, where the regional DEA division was already investigating Enrique Amaya in relation to suspected narcotic distribution activity.

The agencies pieced together leads which revealed that Amaya and Medina Meraz had hired Sierra Rodriguez to murder the man in Colorado in an attempt to erase a $400,000 debt they owed to cocaine suppliers.

“This case demonstrates the violence that accompanies large scale narcotics trafficking,” McQuade said. “Dismantling these large drug organizations with lengthy prison sentences is essential to protecting the safety of our communities.”

Amaya was found guilty in June of Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce to Commit Murder, Aiding and Abetting in the Use of a Firearm Causing Death and Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute over Five Kilograms of Cocaine.

The case was investigated by DEA’s Detroit Division and the Littleton, Colo., Police Department.

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