New Mexico jail inmate gets prison for heroin trafficking

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A jail inmate in New Mexico has been sentenced to nearly 3 ½ years in federal prison for trafficking heroin while he was incarcerated. Prosecutors say 30-year-old Ismael Vargas of Belen was sentenced Tuesday to a 41-month prison term. At the time of the offense, Vargas was an inmate at the Sandoval County Detention Center. Vargas pleaded guilty in March 2017 to a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin. He admitted that in August 2015 while he was an inmate, he arranged for heroin to be delivered to the jail. Vargas also admitted that he facilitated the payment of money to a corrections officer to get the heroin into the jail. The corrections officer and Vargas were among several people indicted in the case.