Grayson County jury sends message to Mexican drug cartel

On Tuesday, April 21, 2015, a Grayson County jury sentenced Gilberto Gonzalez Aguilar, 30, to life in prison and a $250,000 fine for Possession of Methamphetamine With Intent To Deliver In An Amount Over 400 Grams.  The sentence, which was the maximum allowed by law, came after Aguilar chose to plead guilty and allow the jury to sentence him after he was unable to reach agreement on his punishment with prosecutors.    15^th District Court Judge Jim Fallon imposed the sentence after receiving the jury’s recommendation following a day of testimony about the crime.

On November 19, 2014 at approximately 1 pm, Grayson County Deputy Mark Hanning was monitoring traffic on U.S. Hwy 75 at Pecan Street in Sherman.   Hanning observed a car traveling north bound on Hwy 75 with an unreadable license plate and pulled the vehicle over.  In making contact with Aguilar, the driver and only occupant of the vehicle, Hanning noted a strong odor of air freshener coming from the vehicle.   Aguilar gave inconsistent stories about where he was coming from and where he was going, and was unable to provide a drivers’ license or insurance.   He provided only a Mexican identification card.   Suspecting narcotics activity, Hanning requested consent to search the vehicle and Aguilar agreed.   In the trunk of the vehicle, at the bottom of a clothes basket, Hanning found a towel wrapped around three large plastic heat-sealed bags containing over 6 pounds of methamphetamine.

“This was obviously a large scale drug operation,” said Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown.   “That is a very large amount of methamphetamine, and the jury ultimately heard from this defendant that he was connected with a Mexican cartel and in the country illegally.   That is what I hope every jury will do with drug dealers.”

Assistant District Attorney Brett Smith prosecuted the case against Aguilar.  “This kind of drug trafficking is why our Sheriff’s Office does drug interdiction traffic work on the highways,” said Smith.  “Deputy Hanning did a great job sniffing this out and finding the drugs, and this jury certainly understood the message their verdict sent.”

Aguilar was represented by Sherman attorney Gaylon Riddels.   Aguilar testified before the jury that he was not a drug dealer, but was transporting the drugs because a Mexican drug cartel had threatened to kidnap his family members in Mexico if he did not transport the narcotics.  Assistant District Attorney Smith pointed out that at the time he was arrested, Aguilar had in his wallet a photograph of Jesus Malverde, recognized in Mexico as the patron saint of drug dealers.   The jury also heard evidence from officers that text messages found on Aguilar’s phone indicated previous drug transactions.