The United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that a federal jury in the District of Nebraska found 45-year-old Jesus Godinez-Contreras, of Mexico, guilty on April 8, 2022, of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Godinez-Contreras conspired with Rene Daniel Galvan-Salas, Salvador Rodriguez-Portillo, and others to distribute methamphetamine in the Omaha area from the fall of 2019 through the first half of 2020. Godinez-Contreras is a Mexican citizen.

On October 15, 2019, DEA and local investigators arranged a ½ pound purchase of methamphetamine from a Mexico-based supplier.

Rodriguez-Portillo delivered the methamphetamine to a cooperating informant in exchange for a $2,000 payment. On January 9, 2020, investigators arranged another purchase of methamphetamine, this time for 1 pound, from a different Mexico-based supplier. On that date, Galvan-Salas and the defendant appeared at an Omaha-area Walmart parking lot.

Galvan-Salas delivered the methamphetamine to a DEA cooperating source and an undercover DEA agent. Godinez-Contreras initially remained in his pickup truck but got out and approached an officer parked nearby who was conducting surveillance. After contacting the officer, Godinez-Contreras returned to his truck and moved it behind the store, where he picked up Galvan-Salas after the transaction was completed.

On March 19, 2020, investigators observed all three conspirators together at Godinez-Contreras’s residence on S. 60th Street in Omaha. At the time, they observed Galvan-Salas loading a shop vac into Rodriguez-Portillo’s green SUV in the presence of Godinez-Contreras. Weeks later, investigators determined that the shop vac contained an additional 17 pounds of methamphetamine.

Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. presided over the jury trial and will sentence Godinez-Contreras on July 8, 2022.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Omaha Field Division, and the Omaha Police Department. The University of Nebraska Medical Center Nebraska Public Service Laboratory provided laboratory services for the investigation.