A former Marine who for years helped smuggle drugs from Mexico into the United States and even tried to get a song written to glorify his exploits was sentenced Friday to 12 years in federal prison, Trend reports citing Al Arabiya.
Roberto Salazar II, 26, of San Diego was sentenced for importing fentanyl and for conspiracy to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office.
Salazar, who pleaded guilty last October, could have faced up to life in prison.
He was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. Prosecutors said that before joining the corps and while on active duty, he and couriers he recruited made dozens of smuggling trips across the border.
Salazar would obtain cars that were driven to Mexico, where drugs were loaded into the engine compartments. Couriers would then drive them back across the border into the US, prosecutors said.
The scheme began around 2015, authorities said.