CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A 50-year-old Mexican national will spend 10 years in federal prison for possessing nearly 25 pounds of cocaine with intent to distribute, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced in a press release on Thursday.
Delber Turrubiates-Garcia pleaded guilty on April 25, 2025, to the drug trafficking charges stemming from a traffic stop in McAllen, where authorities discovered the cocaine hidden in his pickup truck.
U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton sentenced Turrubiates-Garcia to 120 months in federal prison, which will run concurrently with a 24-month sentence for violating supervised release terms. As a non-U.S. citizen, he faces removal proceedings after completing his prison sentence. The court noted that this marks his second federal narcotics offense.
On Aug. 15, 2024, authorities stopped Turrubiates-Garcia while he was driving a 2019 Ford pickup truck in McAllen. During a search of the vehicle, officers found two boxes containing 10 packages of cocaine in the rear passenger seat.
The packages weighed approximately 11.6 kilograms and tested positive for cocaine in field tests.
Turrubiates-Garcia admitted he knew the boxes contained narcotics and said he was being paid to pick up and distribute them. He also told authorities he had retrieved similar packages from the same location previously and received between \500and500and1,000 for each delivery.
He remains in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with assistance from the Hidalgo County Constable's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexa D. Parcell prosecuted the case.
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