A Chula Vista man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after he was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine stemming from actions described in a 2011 indictment that involved many other Chula Vista residents.
Robert Cota Jr., 44, was one of only a few people out of 23 codefendants who were indicted to go to trial as almost everyone pleaded guilty. A jury convicted him Dec. 5, 2014, and U.S. District Court Judge William Hayes sentenced him May 20.
The prosecutor recommended 300 months. Cota represented himself at the sentencing after firing his attorney. Cota has been in jail since Sept. 22, 2011, and will get credit for serving nearly four years already.
Meanwhile, the lead drug smuggler, Julie Muriel Peterson, 40, had her sentencing delayed from June 1 to June 15. The Chula Vista woman pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and recently wrote a judge to plead for mercy for her brother.
Jose Marino Garcia Jr., 30, of Chula Vista, was initially believed to have been a leader in the drug smuggling operation, but Peterson’s letter said he wasn’t deeply involved. She wrote Hayes saying all of Garcia’s actions “was all at my direction” and he “did not have any independent decision-making authority beyond following my instructions.”
Peterson remains in the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
