California drug smuggler caught in Kansas driving fentanyl, heroin to NY heads to prison

A California man is headed to federal prison nearly two years after he was caught in Kansas while smuggling nearly 18 pounds of drugs to New York.

Eduardo Arellano-Sanchez, age 24, of Cathedral City, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Wichita to 60 months, or 5 years, in federal prison. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of interstate travel in furtherance of drug trafficking and one count of using a cell phone in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Co-defendant Mauricio Canas, of Bermuda Dunes, previously pleaded guilty to the same charges. He was sentenced in December to 96 months, or 8 years, in federal prison. He was 24 years old at the time of sentencing.

Plea agreements in the cases state that Arellano-Sanchez was the driver and Canas was the passenger of a vehicle stopped for a traffic violation in Thomas County on Aug. 21, 2019. They were delivering slightly more than 9 pounds of fentanyl and slightly less than 9 pounds of heroin from California to New York.

Canas used his phone to call his contact for the drug delivery, and Arellano-Sanchez used a map app on his phone to navigate to the designated spot in New York City.

Arellano-Sanchez’s public defender had asked the court for 36 months, or 3 years, in prison.

“Mr. Arellano-Sanchez understands that punishment for his crime will include incarceration,” the motion stated. “But he respectfully requests the Court consider the disproportionate impact on his development imprisonment will have, especially as young person, towards the good-natured member of our community that he imagines himself becoming.”

District Judge John Broomes was not so lenient. However, while prosecutors recommended consecutive 60-month and 36-month sentences for the two crimes, the judge made the sentences concurrent, reducing the total sentence for 96 months to 60 months.

This story was originally published June 13, 2021 at 5:10 PM.