MEXICO CITY: A Mexican man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for smuggling nearly 900 grams of methamphetamine into the U.S. hidden in the frames of religious artwork.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti imposed that term on Carmelo Rojas-Perez, 31, who had been living in Oakland and in the U.S. illegally since the early 1990s, and also said he would be deported to Mexico after the prison term.
Rojas-Perez had pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to import drugs and possession with intent to sell.
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations said he smuggled the drugs in picture frames from Toluca, Mexico, where he grew up, to an Oakland store, then retrieved the pictures and took them to his apartment on Atwood Street.
