Source: US FBI
DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Dominick Jesus Salazar, 52, of Pueblo, Colorado, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm and ammunition despite having been previously convicted of a felony.
According to the facts established at trial last year, on May 23, 2023, Salazar was arrested outside of a Pueblo-area hotel room he was staying in after Pueblo Police Officers saw him interacting with multiple people in a manner consistent with hand-to-hand drug sales. When officers arrested Salazar, he had a loaded pistol in his pocket, along with drug proceeds. Inside his hotel room, officers found 188 grams of methamphetamine and 82 fentanyl pills. Evidence on Salazar’s phone showed he had been dealing drugs out of his hotel room.
“Pueblo is safer because Mr. Salazar is going to federal prison,” said United States Attorney Peter McNeilly. “We’re grateful to the committed men and women of the Pueblo Police Department and federal partners like the FBI who are invested in reducing violent crime and drug dealing in that community.”
“When we bring the full force of federal prosecution against drug dealers, we’re not just making arrests—we’re delivering justice with real consequences,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek. “The FBI stands united with local law enforcement and will use every tool we have to drive violent crime out of our communities.”
United States District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney presided over the sentencing. The FBI Denver Field Office handled the investigation. The Violent Crime and Immigration Enforcement Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado handled the prosecution.
Case Number: 23-CR-00310