A Snellville man has been convicted of trafficking methamphetamine, a charge stemming from a June 2018 traffic stop shown on the show “Live PD,” the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said.
Cristhian Guzman De Paz was convicted of the trafficking charge Wednesday at the conclusion of a three-day trial. A co-defendant was acquitted of trafficking meth but convicted of a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.
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Guzman De Paz and the co-defendant were stopped by a Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office deputy in a Valero parking lot off Interstate 85 on June 6, 2018. The deputy was being filmed for “Live PD,” an A&E series that broadcasts police officers and sheriff’s deputies on the job. The deputy smelled marijuana, and the co-defendant, sitting in the passenger seat, handed over a “small amount” of marijuana, according to the DA’s office.
The deputy detained both men and searched the car. He found two plastic containers of methamphetamine, which was later authenticated by the GBI Crime Lab. The meth in one container weighed 958 grams; the other container was not weighed but “appeared to have a similar amount” of meth inside, the DA’s office said. The value of that amount of meth could have reached $120,000 if sold in one-gram increments, Assistant District Attorney John Setzer argued.
Guzman De Paz was the driver of the car, which Setzer argued implicated him in the trafficking charge. Guzman De Paz was sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine. His co-defendant was sentenced to a year in jail for the misdemeanor conviction.
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