Seward County Sheriff's Office photo

NEBRASKA CITY – Law enforcement agencies have announced multiple developments in drug enforcement in February including a meth bust in Seward County Friday, a separate machine gun case involving a Lincoln homicide and conviction in an Iowa case linked to cartels in Mexico.

 A deputy with the Seward County Sheriff’s Office made a large meth bust on Friday.

According to the sheriff’s office, a deputy stopped a Chrysler Voyager that had just exited I-80 near Goehner for multiple vehicle and traffic violations.

The sheriff’s office said the deputy began to suspect criminal activity and got consent from the driver to search the vehicle. During the search, the deputy found multiple packages of crystal methamphetamine concealed in the van doors. The total weight of the meth found was more than 16 pounds.

Valentin Mendoza Jr., 42, of San Bernardino, Calif., is suspected of possession with intent to distribute, no drug tax stamp and possession of over 140 grams of methamphetamine.

Machine gun

In a separate case, the U.S. Justice Department reports that Alejandro Alvarado, 24, of Lincoln was sentenced  to 201 months in federal prison for possession of a machine gun in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Prosecutors link Alvarado to Glock switches intended to convert handguns into fully automatic machine guns from the State of Kansas.

One of those handguns was used in a homicide in Lincoln and prosecutors say Alvardao was conspiring with others to do home invasions in Lincoln.

Waterloo Iowa link to Mexico drug traffickers

A Mexican man involved in a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that was distributing significant amounts of methamphetamine in the Waterloo, Iowa, area was convicted by a jury after a three-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids. 

Luis Carlos Corral Lopez, age 31, from Caborca, Sonora, Mexico, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. The verdict was returned this afternoon following about five hours of jury deliberations. 

Prosecutors link Lopez to 22 pounds of methamphetamine. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.

Fentanyl overdose death

 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports a 130 prison sentence for Jamiee Ashley Koryn for selling fentanyl pills that resulted in the overdose death of 23-year-old Sherie Gil in California.

Nebraska Attorney General

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is urging the federal government to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

A press release says the designation will free up resources to confront the deadly opioid crisis that is linked to over 100,000 deaths in the United States.

Hilgers said the U.S. government knows how fentanyl and other deadly drugs are entering the country and is aware of cartel assassinating rivals, ambushing Americans at the border and engaging in armed insurgency against the Mexican government.