An Imperial resident who worked as a correctional officer is ordered to appear next month in San Bernardino County Superior Court following the guilty plea he entered in a drug case.
Ulises Cortez’s defense attorney James Gass said Wednesday that his client entered his plea Jan. 23 on a single count of possession for sale and had admitted to a special allegation of possessing 1 kilogram of cocaine.
Cortez, who worked at Centinela State Prison, was sentenced to six years in county jail. Cortez’s court hearing in San Bernardino on March 6 would address the credit for time served in his drug case.
Two other drug-related charges Cortez faced were dismissed under his plea deal, Gass said. Cortez would have faced 25 years in prison, Gass said.
Cortez was one of 12 defendants charged in connection with a drug case San Bernardino authorities had been investigating.
Cortez allegedly conspired to transport, distribute and sell in excess of 40 kilograms of cocaine, according to the criminal complaint.
Members of a San Bernardino County-based drug task force arrested Cortez at his home in Imperial in October 2010.
Cortez, 35, who is trained in mixed martial arts, was acquitted in July 2010 on an unrelated assault and battery case out of El Centro.
Ulises Cortez’s defense attorney James Gass said Wednesday that his client entered his plea Jan. 23 on a single count of possession for sale and had admitted to a special allegation of possessing 1 kilogram of cocaine.
Cortez, who worked at Centinela State Prison, was sentenced to six years in county jail. Cortez’s court hearing in San Bernardino on March 6 would address the credit for time served in his drug case.
Two other drug-related charges Cortez faced were dismissed under his plea deal, Gass said. Cortez would have faced 25 years in prison, Gass said.
Cortez was one of 12 defendants charged in connection with a drug case San Bernardino authorities had been investigating.
Cortez allegedly conspired to transport, distribute and sell in excess of 40 kilograms of cocaine, according to the criminal complaint.
Members of a San Bernardino County-based drug task force arrested Cortez at his home in Imperial in October 2010.
Cortez, 35, who is trained in mixed martial arts, was acquitted in July 2010 on an unrelated assault and battery case out of El Centro.
