Sunnyside man sentenced to 10 years for selling methamphetamine

A Sunnyside man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for selling methamphetamine.

Jesse Robledo, 36, pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court to a charge of distributing 50 grams or more of meth. As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors dropped a charge of distributing a mixture that contained a detectable amount of methamphetamine.

Robledo was arrested after he sold a total of 217.5 grams of meth to an undercover drug buyer over the course of three incidents, according to court documents. He was arrested by an FBI task force.

Federal guidelines set Robledo’s sentencing range at 121 to 151 months, and prosecutors recommended Judge Mary K. Dimke impose sentence within that range.

Robledo has prior convictions for bail jumping, residential burglary, first-degree identity theft, first-degree theft, forgery, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Robledo’s attorney, Douglas Phelps, sought a five-year sentence, arguing that Robledo was abusing drugs and alcohol since his youth, all his prior criminal convictions involved drugs and alcohol and that he would benefit from substance abuse treatment. A shorter sentence, Phelps argued, would allow Robledo to be involved in the parenting of his young children and “minimize the generational cycle of drug use, arrest, incarceration and family separation in Mr. Jesse Robledo’s family.”

Phelps, in court documents, said the drug-possession count should not have been included as the state Supreme Court overturned Washington’s drug-possession law.

In addition to the 10 years in prison, Dimke also ordered Robledo to participate in a residential drug treatment program at the federal prison in El Reno, Oklahoma, and to serve five years on supervised release when he is released.