An illegal alien who was deported back to Mexico for trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine - but returned and did it again, until a Highway 97 traffic stop - has been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison

Omar Cuevas-Vasquez, 34, from Michoacan, Mexico was sentenced to federal prison for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute it and illegally reentering the country, Senior U.S. District Judge Owen M. Panner sentenced Cuevas-Vasquez to 188 months in prison for the drug trafficking offense and 120 months for illegally reentering the United States following an earlier deportation; both sentences to be served concurrently. Judge Panner also sentenced Martin Mendoza, 22, from Los Banos, California to 35 months in prison for his role in possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute it. Cuevas-Vasquez was previously convicted of drug trafficking in 2000 in the Eastern District of Washington. At that time, Cuevas-Vasquez was trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine. Cuevas-Vasquez received a 24-month federal prison sentence and was thereafter deported from the United States. A short time later, Cuevas-Vasquez returned illegally to the United States and again engaged in drug trafficking activities in vastly larger quantities of methamphetamine.