Kansas Narco-Tourists Sentenced To Prison Time In JeffCo

GOLDEN, CO – A Kansas man caught in Jefferson County smuggling methamphetamine worth $350,000 with his wife was sentenced to prison time in Jefferson County District Court Monday, the First Judicial District Attorney's office said.

Jose Chavez-Tellez, 48, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for possession-with-intent-to-distribute nearly 15 pounds of meth. Even though he is married to a U.S. citizen, Chavez-Tellez was an undocumented immigrant and had been deported once in 1990, the DA's office said. Chavez-Tellez was found guilty by a JeffCo jury in September. His wife, Rhonda, 52, pleaded guilty to the charges last summer.

The Chavez-Tellezes were passing through Colorado on a trip from Los Angeles back to Kansas with the illegal narcotics, which were wrapped in 15 quart-sized Ziploc baggies, an arrest affidavit said. On January 2, the couple stopped at a Wheat Ridge truck stop at Ward Road and 44th Avenue.

A one-car accident flattened two of the tires on the couple's car, which alerted a patroling JeffCo deputy, who stopped to help. While checking on the car, the deputy saw a shopping bag in the car's back cargo that turned out to contain 14.65 pounds, or 6,644 grams, of meth, the police report said.

The two were taken into custody and Jose was held in the Jefferson County Jail on $250,000 bond. The couple had made the meth smuggling trip back and forth from California to Kansas four times before being nabbed, the DA's office said.

Rhonda Chavez-Tellez pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute narcotics was sentenced in September to six years in prison.

Related: Meth-Smuggling Couple Found Guilty In Jefferson County

Image via Jefferson County District Attorney's Office

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