WASHINGTON (AP) A drug cartel member who served as a commander of the Mexican State Police has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Gilberto Lerma-Plata on Thursday for conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of marijuana into the U.S. Lerma-Plata had pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge back in March.
According to documents in the court case, he was on the payroll of Mexico's Gulf Cartel while employed by the police and used that position to engage in drug trafficking with the cartel.
