People v. Vargas-Alvarez CA6

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2

In 2006, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency began investigating a drug trafficking operation Vargas-Alvarez headed. Vargas-Alvarez’s role included hiring people to manage “stash houses” and transport drugs. Vargas-Alvarez and others developed a plan to kidnap people they believed responsible for stealing drugs and money from them. Vargas-Alvarez and others kidnapped one of these people and held him for four days, during which time he was bound, beaten, and threatened with additional physical harm. Law enforcement then executed search warrants at multiple locations. At one location, officers found 42 one-kilogram bundles of suspected cocaine, $618,328 bundled in heat-sealed wrap plus another $152,315 in loose currency, a ledger and a money counter, a .45-caliber handgun, magazines and ammunition, and an “Intratec” handgun with a silencer, among other items. In the location’s garage, officers found hidden compartments in three vehicles, including one with crystal methamphetamine and 43 kilograms of suspected cocaine. A jury convicted Vargas-Alvarez in 2017 of the following charges: two counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine (§ 182, subd. (a);…