Drug dealer may be deported, again

A convicted drug dealer who has been sent to prison twice on drug charges and deported twice from the country, was again sentenced to prison Tuesday for possessing cocaine, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Israel Velazquez Angel, 28, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the uniform controlled substance act in June.

Judge Bill Maddox on Tuesday sentenced Angel to 18 to 60 months in prison. The Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has a hold on Angel.

On April 8, Carson City Sheriff's deputies were aiding state probation officers with an arrest warrant on Ninth Street when Angel was seen in a vehicle with a subject known to hang out with the subject of the warrant, according to the arrest report.

Thinking Angel was the wanted man, officers approached the vehicle and witnessed Angel put something under the passenger seat, the report states.

Police recovered a soda can with a hidden compartment containing three grams of methamphetamine, trace amounts of cocaine and dozens of small plastic baggies commonly used for packaging drugs.

According to Assistant District Attorney Gerald Gardner, Angel, who was born in Mexico City, was convicted in 1999 in Lander County of one count of felony possession of a controlled substance for which he received a sentence of probation.

In 2002, he was convicted in Carson City of one count of felony possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to 12 to 48 months in prison.

In 2003, Angel was again convicted in Carson City of trafficking in a controlled substance and sentenced to 12 to 48 months in prison.

He was paroled in September 2004 and deported to Mexico by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two months later, Angel was arrested in Carson City on parole violation. In January, he was again deported.

Angel admitted illegally re-entering the United States in May 2007 through Tijuana, Mexico.

District Attorney Neil Rombardo, who has no jurisdiction over federal charges of illegal entry into the U.S., said he hopes that ICE will prosecute Angel for re-entering the country.

"This man, after being convicted of felony crimes and deported, deliberately came back to Carson City to associate with gangs and resume his life as a drug dealer. Prison is exactly where he belongs," said Rombardo in a news release. "We hope the federal authorities will take appropriate action with regard to prosecution of his illegal re-entry."

Gardner said ICE could either deport Angel again or prosecute him in federal court.

- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.