URBANA — A Rantoul man who ran what a Champaign County judge called a “sophisticated” drug operation from a mobile home east of the village has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Carlos Mendoza, 50, will have to serve at least 75 percent of that sentence, or 26 years. He will also have to pay $119,300 in street-value fines for the cache of drugs police found in the mobile home.
“This is a sophisticated business, and he got caught,” Judge Randy Rosenbaum said. “It’s clear to me he’s a drug dealer — and, I’m finding, an arms dealer, too.”
After a bench trial that spanned several different days, Rosenbaum convicted Mendoza in July of 10 of 11 felony counts lodged against him in January 2019 in connection with methamphetamine, heroin, cannabis and guns that members of the Champaign County Street Crimes Task Force found in a court-authorized search of a mobile home at 1938 County Road 3000 North.
The police obtained the search warrant based on information they received from a confidential informant who had bought drugs from Mendoza between Jan. 12 and 15, 2019, according to Champaign police Detective Cully Schweska.
Schweska, the lead detective on the case, testified that the informant said he saw Mendoza with more than a half-pound of cannabis and 2 ounces of cocaine that Mendoza was “actively selling” from the home those days. The source also reported that Mendoza had a rifle near him on the kitchen table.
To aggravate Mendoza’s sentence, Assistant State’s Attorney Kristin Alferink also had Schweska testify about a report that Rantoul police took in September 2018.
He said a 14-year-old Rantoul boy caught with a gun said he bought it from another Rantoul Township High School student and Mendoza for $150.
In his defense, Mendoza maintained that he did not live at that trailer in spite of police finding clothing and other indicators that he was. He maintained that he only periodically stayed at that home, which was occupied by others as well.
Noting that the DNA of other people was also found on some of the guns, Mendoza’s Chicago attorney, Raul Villalobos, said that was insufficient evidence to link his client exclusively to the guns or the drugs.
But Rosenbaum said the totality of the circumstances suggested otherwise.
“He was staying there, but essentially, it was more of a business location than a residence, with people in and out,” the judge said. “It’s smart for someone in the business not to be living where the goods and the money are.”
Noting Mendoza’s lengthy criminal history dating to the early 1990s, Alferink argued for 40 years behind bars. He faced a maximum of 50.
“He’s clearly trafficking drugs between Texas and Illinois,” she argued, noting Mendoza’s frequent trips south. “There was a huge amount of drugs in his business location.”
Villalobos asked for a sentence closer to the minimum of 12 years.
“Everything is related to some kind of drug problem,” said Villalobos, who called his client a good provider for his children.
Mendoza said he was a “drug addict” whose only crimes were “using illegal drugs and fornicating with prostitutes.”
He told the judge that someone else who frequented the trailer was responsible for the guns and drugs.
“If I had owned all that, I would have had the money to bond out and money left over for a good defense attorney,” he said.
“I’ve been a migrant worker all my life who suffers from drug addiction,” said the father of five whom Alferink noted was $100,000 in arrears on support for one child.
Although Rosenbaum convicted Mendoza of 10 counts, he found that some merged with more serious ones and sentenced him on six, imposing prison sentences of between 10 and 35 years but declaring that all shall be served at the same time.
A multiple-convicted felon not allowed to have weapons, Mendoza was found to be in possession of five, three of which were determined to be stolen. He was acquitted of possessing a rifle because Rosenbaum said it was found in a room where another man stayed.
The street-value fines were based on what was found in the trailer: more than 5 ounces (148 grams) of heroin, just over a pound (510 grams) of meth and more than 11 pounds (187 ounces) of cannabis.
Mendoza was given credit for two years and about eight months already served in the county jail.
