Raul Zamudio Hurtado, an Oakdale man, was handed a 22.5-year prison sentence for his role in supplying methamphetamine to gang members in Merced County, marking a significant crackdown by federal authorities on drug distribution in the region, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston imposed the sentence after Hurtado’s conviction on two separate conspiracy counts; one from 2017 involving Sureño gang affiliates, and another from a subsequent operation between December 2021 and November 2022.
Despite his 2019 guilty plea and subsequent release under conditions in 2020, Hurtado returned to his methamphetamine operations, distributing large quantities of the drug and accepting tens of thousands of dollars until his arrest following a November 2022 search warrant that seized over 73 pounds of meth, according to court records, the man’s criminal activities extended over several years and he was taken into custody once again after the search. Investigations leading to Hurtado’s convictions were carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation among various other federal and state agencies, highlighting the broad coalition determined to cut off the drug’s supply at its source.
The cases against Hurtado stem from the efforts of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), which work to dismantle high-level criminal organizations threatening the United States, and are part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a national initiative aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence, the Justice Department revitalized PSN in 2021 under a strategy that emphasized community trust, crime prevention engagement, strategic enforcement, and result measurement…