Mexican national sentenced to 9 years on drugs, weapons charges in Jeffco

From The Trussville Tribune staff reports

BIRMINGHAM –A federal judge today sentenced a Mexican man to nine years in prison for distributing methamphetamine and illegally possessing firearms, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Gerido.

U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor sentenced Oscar Adrian Castillo, 25, on one count of illegally distributing more than 50 grams of methamphetamine in Jefferson County on Sept. 15, and on one count of possessing firearms on Sept. 20 while an illegal resident in the United States. Castillo possessed a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol at the Bessemer home where he was living at the time of his arrest. Castillo pleaded guilty to the charges in November.

According to Castillo’s plea agreement with the government, Castillo sold 84.5 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant on Sept. 15 in the parking lot of the Walmart in Bessemer. ATF agents, Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies and officers with the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant at Castillo’s Bessemer residence five days later and recovered the firearms.

ATF, WANTF and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Felton prosecuted.