NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

FEBRUARY 17, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHOENIX MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN 57-KILO COCAINE

HIGHWAY INTERDICTION

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Phoenix, Ariz., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to being in possession of nearly 57 kilos of cocaine when his tractor-trailer unit was stopped while traveling on I-44 through Greene County, Mo.

Daniel Miranda, 49, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr this morning to the charge contained in a Feb. 27, 2008, federal indictment.

Miranda, who was traveling eastbound on I-44 in Greene County on Feb. 6, 2008, was stopped for a commercial motor vehicle compliance inspection of his tractor-trailer unit near the Missouri Route 125 interchange. When Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers searched his trailer, which contained a load of seed, they found a freshly constructed false front wall. Located behind the wall were 57 kilogram-size packages of cocaine. The packages were wrapped in cellophane and an oily substance. Miranda admitted that he intended to distribute the cocaine to another person.

Under federal statutes, Miranda is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $4 million. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Rush. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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