‘Mama know you’re in prison?’ Convicted drug dealer in SC, NC will be deported — again
Gilberto Antonio Moreno-Moreno is a drug dealer. The 37-year-old man sold drugs in Rock Hill and Charlotte, he admitted in York County court late Wednesday.
He dealt in cocaine, meth and guns — all after being deported from the U.S. to Mexico and coming back to the Carolinas, court testimony showed. Moreno-Moreno, who is from Mexico and entered the U.S. without legal permission, told the judge he was guilty.
He even admitted it to his mother.
When Moreno-Moreno pleaded guilty Wednesday, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Dan Hall asked him a simple question:
“Does your mama know you’re in prison?”
“Yes,” Moreno-Moreno replied, adding that his mother is in Durango, Mexico.
He hung his head as he said it.
Moreno-Moreno was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to trafficking cocaine in 2017 from a Rock Hill apartment as part of a Mexican and American drug ring, 16th Circuit Solicitor Matthew Hogge said in court.
“He confessed to being part of a larger drug organization that distributed large quantities of cocaine and meth,” Hogge said.
Moreno-Moreno also pleaded guilty to weapons charges.
Moreno-Moreno’s 10-year sentence will run concurrently in federal prison, because he was convicted in August in U.S. District Court in North Carolina for dealing meth in Charlotte, according to Hogge and federal court records.
That federal conviction in Charlotte came after Moreno-Moreno pleaded guilty to re-entering the U.S. illegally. Moreno-Moreno had been deported for earlier drug convictions and being in the country illegally, Hogge said in court. He also has previous North Carolina state court convictions for drug trafficking and habitual DWI in North Carolina, Department of Corrections records show.
Moreno-Moreno will be deported — again — after he finishes his 10-year prison sentence, federal records show.
The Rock Hill arrest of Moreno-Moreno in late 2017 was handled by late York County Sheriff’s Office deputy Mike Doty, Hogge said. Doty, a member of the York County drug unit, found more than 100 grams of cocaine, heroin, guns, ammunition, cash, and a wooden box that Moreno-Moreno used to process the drugs into bricks for sale, Hogge said. Doty also found wire transfer slips for cash shipments back to Mexico, Hogge said.
Doty was shot and killed in January 2018 while on duty in York in an unrelated case. A domestic violence suspect killed Doty and wounded three other officers during a pursuit involving SWAT officers. The man who killed Doty, Christian McCall, is serving a life sentence in prison.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 11:24 AM.
