LAS CRUCES - Diego Peña, 29, of Deming, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 39 kilograms of marijuana, U. S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales announced Monday.

Peña, who remains at a halfway house pending sentencing, faces up to five years of imprisonment and two years of supervised release.

Drug-sniffing dog Jack-O alerted to the rear and front bumpers of Peña's Ford Mustang at a Border Patrol checkpoint Nov. 2, 2010. When agents searched the car, they found 90 bundles of marijuana hidden in the bumpers, which Pe-a had agreed to drive from Palomas, Mexico, to Albuquerque, according to court documents.

The case was investigated by the U. S. Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney W. Ronald Jennings.


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