DEL RIO, Texas (KXXV) — The United States Attorney’s Office has sentenced a man from Killeen, Texas, in a federal court in Del Rio to prison after attempting to import 7.86 kilograms of methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico.
According to court documents, Joshua Ruben Olivencia, 34, and other co-defendants were arrested at a hotel in Del Rio on August 1, 2020, after officers found 16 individual multilayered packages of meth concealed inside the door panels of co-defendant Bibiana Ira Ortiz’s car during a port of entry inspection.
After an investigation, officers said the suspects had intentions to import meth from Mexico and distribute it in the United States.
Olivencia had distributed methamphetamine in and around Austin, Killeen, Temple, and Belton and had employed a few distributors who worked in Austin and the surrounding areas. On July 31, 2020, he and co-defendant David Ray Coplin traveled to Del Rio to meet Ortiz and another co-defendant, Jimmie Troy Palmer III. Olivencia gave Palmer $18,500 to purchase methamphetamine in Mexico.
Ortiz pleaded guilty on June 7, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. She was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison.
Palmer pleaded guilty on July 21, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to import methamphetamine and was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison.
Coplin pleaded guilty on March 8, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rex Beasley prosecuted it.
