A 27-year-old Mission woman who was arrested after law enforcement in Jim Wells County found more than a $1 million of heroin and methamphetamine in the gas tank of her vehicle entered a guilty plea Thursday.
Cristina Inez Marquez, 27, entered her plea Thursday in Corpus Christi federal court to knowingly transporting and possessing a little more than 68 pounds of meth and approximately 11 pounds of heroin.
A captain with the Jim Wells County Sheriff’s Office pulled Marquez over on Dec. 29 after he checked her license plate and discovered she did not have insurance. The traffic stop on her gray Ford Explorer occurred on the northbound lanes of Highway 281 near Alice.
A criminal complaint said Marquez was nervous during the traffic stop, and after she provided the captain consent to search the vehicle, he discovered tampering on the gas tank.
That discovery prompted the sheriff’s office to transport the Ford Explorer to the department’s impound lot for a more thorough search, which is where the fuel tank was removed, according to the complaint.
“Upon examining the contents, authorities found 12 concealed bundles of what appeared to be crystal meth and black tar heroin. The weight of the bundles exceeded 85 pounds,” the release stated.
An analysis later revealed the meth was 95% pure, according to the release, which said the estimated street value of the meth and heroin was more than $1.3 million.
Marquez is scheduled to be sentenced July 20 and the maximum sentence she could face is life in prison and a possible $10 million maximum fine, according to the release.
Court documents, however, show Marquez reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, who agreed to recommend a reduction in the sentencing guidelines for her cooperation, truthful testimony and guilty plea.
