Two drug traffickers plead guilty

By Monica Lundquist

Pioneer Correspondent

      WALKER - Israel Padilla Sanchez, 32, and Saul Corina Sanchez, 31, both of Minneapolis, each pleaded guilty Jan. 11 in Cass County Court to felony first-degree conspiracy to commit controlled substance crime (sale).

      They were accused of trafficking cocaine from Minneapolis to Cass Lake when officers stopped a pickup in which they were passengers April 20 at Walker. District Judge John P. Smith issued each Sanchez brother an immediate 86-month prison sentenced, but stayed all but time served and placed them on 30 years probation.

      Because they are illegal aliens from Mexico, Smith ordered them to be turned over immediately to Immigration and Naturalization Services for deportation processing and ordered them not to return to the United States illegally. If either Sanchez should return to the U.S. legally, he will be required to report to Minnesota Department of Corrections within 48 hours. According to court complaints filed against them, Saul Sanchez has previously been deported twice and twice returned illegally to the U.S.

      Officers from Leech Lake, Walker and Pike Bay Police Departments and Cass County Sheriff’s Office, based on information received from a confidential informant, tracked the truck from Minneapolis traveling north until they stopped the vehicle in Walker.

      Salina Kay Goodwin, 20, of Minneapolis, another passenger in the truck, was sentenced in October to 242 days in Cass County Jail for felony first-degree conspiracy to commit controlled substance crime (sale). She was fined $1,000 or equivalent sentence to serve and placed on 20 years supervised probation. An 86-month prison sentence was stayed on the condition she meet probation terms.

      Robert Lawrence Holmberg, 42, of Minneapolis, the truck driver, pleaded innocent Dec. 20 in Cass County District Court to felony first-degree conspiracy to commit controlled substance crime (sale). He is scheduled to appear for a March 7 pretrial hearing.

      According to the court complaints filed in this case, Holmberg reportedly told officers the Sanchezes paid him $100 per trip to drive them about 10 times. Officers recovered 26 grams of cocaine from under the pickup dashboard April 20.