UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ramon Montes CASTANEDA, Defendant-Appellant

This appeal requires us to review the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence where the district court has found sentencing entrapment.

Ramon Montes Castaneda timely appeals his conviction and sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. We have jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing. We affirm Castaneda’s conviction.

I

Working with Agent Robert Kursar of the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”), confidential informants Richard Orestad and Darrell Beck initiated purchases of cocaine through Theresa Sullivan, who lived with Or-estad and Beck. Until her arrest, Sullivan did not know that Kursar was a DEA agent.

According to Sullivan’s trial testimony, Castaneda supplied her with cocaine on numerous occasions. Sullivan and Orestad testified that, after one failed transaction, Castaneda agreed to provide them with one kilogram of cocaine. Orestad testified that he went to Castaneda’s residence, where he met Castaneda, Graciela Becerra and Jose Abel Ramirez. Castaneda opened Becerra’s purse and showed Orestad one kilogram of cocaine inside.

According to Orestad, he told Castaneda…