The U.S. Attorney’s office in west Michigan has announced sentences in a drug case that spanned several counties, including Berrien and Van Buren. U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge says 40-year-old Jesus Cortez of Lansing has been sentenced to more than eleven years in prison for his role in a nine-person drug trafficking conspiracy. Authorities say the operation involved current and former inmates of the Michigan Department of Corrections obtaining meth and heroin from Mexico and distributing the drugs in west Michigan and elsewhere. The conspiracy also included smuggling drugs into prisons. Eight of nine defendants are doing time following guilty pleas, while the ninth died before sentencing. Among those convicted is Umberto Gavier Cruz of Covert, who is serving 66 months, and 32-year-old Sarah Joy McBride of Allegan, who has been sentenced to 32 months.
