Lee County Drug Defendant Sentenced to 24 Years in Federal Prison

On 7-16-2009, members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division arrested Daniel Aguirre Carranza of 136 S&M Lane, Sanford, for trafficking Cocaine by Possession, trafficking Cocaine by transportation and maintaining a vehicle to store drugs after an undercover operation. After his arrest, Lee County agents were able to link Carranza to an existing drug investigation out of Warren and Vance Counties. Lee County agents began working with agents of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the US Drug Enforcement Administration and on January 7th 2010, Carranza was indicted by the Eastern District of North Carolina on federal charges of Conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilograms of Cocaine (count 1) and Conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of Marijuana (count 2). Carranza pled not guilty and in June of 2010 was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers in Raleigh. On August 2, 2010, Carranza was sentenced to 292 months on count 1 and 240 months on count 2. The sentences will run concurrent. After serving his sentence, Carranza, an illegal alien, will be deported from the United States to Mexico.