United States v. Adislado Parades Rosales

Adislado Rosales appeals his sentence upon his guilty plea to misprision of a felony (distribution of heroin) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 4 . He contends that the district court erred in not reducing his base offense level for acceptance of responsibility and in considering the total amount of heroin involved in the underlying felony in setting his base offense level. We affirm the sentence.

DEA agent Pete Ramirez made arrangements with codefendant Enrique Mendez Pineda (Mendez) to purchase ten ounces of heroin for $22,000. Ramirez and Mendez agreed to conduct the transaction on May 23, 1989, in the parking lot in front of a Pay N’ Save store in San Jose, California.

At the designated time and place, Mendez, accompanied by Rosales and another passenger, drove a pickup truck into the parking lot. Mendez met with Ramirez, who gave Mendez the $22,000. After counting the money, Mendez agreed to let Ramirez accompany him to the pickup truck to retrieve the heroin. Upon reaching the passenger side of the vehicle, where Rosales was sitting, Ramirez asked Rosales to show him the “thing”. Rosales retrieved a grocery bag containing 230 grams of heroin. Mendez obtained the bag of heroin…