An Ontario mechanic caught four years ago with the equivalent of roughly 3,000 doses of methamphetamine is getting a chance from a federal judge to recover.
Samuel J. Sanchez, 64, pleaded guilty last December to a federal charge of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
During a recent sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors asked he be imprisoned for 3 ½ years. His attorney petitioned instead for probation.
U.S. District Judge Michael McShane last week put Sanchez on probation for three years.
Sanchez, who operates a repair shop, declined an interview request but his attorney, Justin Rosas of Medford, said by email that Sanchez is undergoing treatment for his addiction.
“His treatment is going very well,” Rosas said. “He’s really showing up for his family and his own long-term health.”
Law enforcement officers searching his Ontario home in 2021 found about 290 grams of methamphetamine, counterfeit currency, $4,078 in cash and six guns. He told officers that “he had been selling small quantities of methamphetamine for several years,” according to a sentencing memo by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Brassell.
“He jeopardizes the lives of his community to fund his own drug addiction and make money,” the prosecutor wrote. “Methamphetamine is destroying communities and has the potential to upend a small rural community like Ontario.”
Brassell said, however, that Sanchez “appears committed to sobriety.”
Court filings show that Sanchez in 2016 was convicted in Payette County in Idaho of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Federal prosecutors said in court filings that the conviction meant it was illegal for Sanchez to have guns.
He was charged in the latest case in 2023 but was arrested in August 2024 “after he continued to use controlled substances and alcohol, failed to attend treatment and was not honest with his supervising officer,” Brassell said.
His attorney depicted Sanchez now as a man on the way to recovery.
He said in a court filing that Sanchez was raised in a “devoutly religious family” and that several siblings became ministers.
“His long-standing battle with substance abuse remained hidden from his family for many years as he functioned well in his trade,” Rosas wrote, describing abuse dating back 30 years.
Rosas noted that at the time of the search of Sanchez’s property in 2021 “life was very different” as the country emerged from the pandemic.
“His business had suffered during the pandemic and he had become more toxic and addicted,” Rosas wrote.
He said otherwise Sanchez “has a way of connecting with others, a gentle and humorous style and he shows himself to be present and caring about the lives of those he loves,” Rosas said.
Rosas urged the judge to leave Sanchez free to continue treatment and to run his business.
“While his road has involved plenty of bumps,” Rosas wrote, “it has been a steady drive towards compassion, responsibility, understanding and hard work.”
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