A man was sentenced to federal prison after prosecutors said he trafficked heroin into metro Atlanta by hiding it inside a car battery.
Francisco Castaneda Rivera, 65, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney BJay Pak said Thursday in a news release.
Rivera tried to transport 4.24 kilograms of heroin from Texas to the Atlanta area, according to Pak. That is the equivalent of about 9.3 pounds.
Law enforcement officials connected Rivera to drug trafficking cases months before he was arrested, Pak said. In March 2018, a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation learned a suspected drug trafficker would be involved with a narcotics delivery in Union City. In September of the same year, DEA officials linked Rivera to the drug trafficking after a traffic stop.
A month later, Georgia State Patrol troopers in Douglas County stopped Rivera as he was traveling eastbound on I-20, Pak said. The troopers searched Rivera’s truck and found that the vehicle’s battery was “significantly cleaner than the rest of the engine compartment,” he said.
The troopers realized the battery had been altered. When they opened it up, they found a motorcycle battery had been wired to provide a sufficient electrical current to power the truck. They also found five packages wrapped in electrical tape, Pak said.
Those packages were filled with heroin.
Rivera was convicted on trafficking charges after pleading guilty May 15.
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