Drug smuggler given prison sentence, faces deportation

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 A Spring Valley man who smuggled multiple narcotics while driving his truck through a border checkpoint has been sentenced to 50 months in federal prison.

Oscar Vasquez-Alamilla, 36, will receive credits of eight months spent in jail since his Sept. 26, 2017 arrest at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers noticed some anomalies in a spare tire in his Ford F-150 and found five packages inside it, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

 A Spring Valley man who smuggled multiple narcotics while driving his truck through a border checkpoint has been sentenced to 50 months in federal prison.

Oscar Vasquez-Alamilla, 36, will receive credits of eight months spent in jail since his Sept. 26, 2017 arrest at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers noticed some anomalies in a spare tire in his Ford F-150 and found five packages inside it, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The packages included 24 pounds of cocaine, 12 pounds of fentanyl, 13 pounds of heroin, and over 7,000 pills marked as oxycodone, according to the U.S. Attorney.

His attorney asked U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns for three years, saying his client played a minor role in the case because he thought he was only smuggling marijuana and not all the other drugs found in the spare tire.

Vasquez-Alamillas’s lawyer said he was promised a fee of $1,500 for the drug haul.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Hobson recommended a 57-month term. Burns ordered him to pay a $400 penalty assessment on April 30.

Vasquez-Alamilla was a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., but he will be deported to Mexico after he concludes his sentence.

He operated an auto repair shop known as Oscar’s Auto Service, but it had to close as a result of his arrest. He had a SENTRI (Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Response Inspection) pass which allowed for expedited clearance for pre-approved travelers at the time.

Sex trafficker faces sentencing

Denziel S. Burke, 20, of El Cajon, will be sentenced June 11 after he pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a 14-year-old girl.

Burke faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum life term, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Burke remains in the Metropolitan Correctional Center without bail since his arrest in August 2017.

Court records show Burke arranged for online advertisements for a 14-year-old girl for prostitution and he delivered her to various male online customers. Burke admitted he knew she was a minor and that he was transporting her for commercial sex acts.

He will have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. He pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge William Gallo in San Diego.

Officers with the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force tried to arrest Burke on Aug. 8, 2017, and he struck an unmarked police vehicle with his car as he fled at a high rate of speed.

He was arrested two days later and the girl was rescued by San Diego Police officers.

East County resident indicted in drug scandal

The only East county resident who was indicted along with a doctor and six others for conspiracy to distribute a powerful painkiller has been released on $25,000 bond.

Amber Grabau, 28, who is also known as Amber Horne, of El Cajon, was indicted by a federal grand jury in March for conspiracy and unlawful distribution of drugs.

Grabau and the others have pleaded not guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court. The next hearing is set for Aug. 6.

A physician, Egisto Salerno, 73, is accused of writing prescriptions under the names of deceased and incarcerated people. Salerno, who is free on $100,000 bond, had an office on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego.

Many of the patients never saw Salerno. One patient who received five prescriptions for hydrocodone died in October 2015, but still received prescriptions a year later, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.