CEDAR CITY — Two brothers who were arrested on drug charges following a traffic stop in March have been sentenced to 10 months in jail plus three years of probation.
Kevin Eduardo Beltran-Medina, 26, and Angel Gustavo Beltran-Medina, 20, were sentenced on Tuesday by 5th District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen. As part of their plea agreements with prosecutors, they each pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony. All remaining charges against the pair were dropped as part of their respective agreements.
As previously reported in Cedar City News, the two men were in a vehicle that was pulled over by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just south of Cedar City on March 19. A subsequent search of the car yielded approximately 7.5 pounds of methamphetamine inside a plastic bag in the trunk.
On Tuesday, the brothers were each sentenced to 300 days in Iron County Jail, with credit given to time already served since their arrest two months ago. They were also placed on 36 months’ probation and each fined $750 plus a $53 security fee.
Following their release from Iron County Jail at the conclusion of their jail sentence, both men, who are citizens of Mexico, are expected to be deported to their homeland.
“You are ordered not to re-enter the United States unless you can do so lawfully,” the judge said during the older brother’s sentencing hearing, which was conducted via videoconference.
The cases mark the latest in a seemingly continuous stream of trafficking cases involving drivers attempting to transport meth, fentanyl and other drugs through Southern Utah via the I-15 corridor.
“Until the federal government gets serious about border security we will continue to see this flood of deadly narcotics flow through and into our state,” Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson told Cedar City News after the sentencing hearing.
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