Portales man sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug trafficking charges

PORTALES, N.M. (KAMR/KCIT) — A Portales man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug trafficking charges on Wednesday after officers reportedly found methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop in June 2021, the Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced.

The district’s office reported that on June 6, 2021, the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on 56-year-old Alton Pete Smith on South Roosevelt Road 3/US Highway 70.

The office detailed that Smith demonstrated “suspicious behaviors and inability to provide documentation” on the vehicle that he was driving, resulting in a vehicle search. Officers reportedly found and seized a “trafficking amount of methamphetamine, a scale, and baggies” in the vehicle.

On Wednesday, the office reported that Smith was sentenced to 15 years in prison due to his previous conviction of “Trafficking Methamphetamine” in Bernalillo County.

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