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• May 6, 2008 4:07 pm US/Mountain
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  Inmate Allegedly Recruited Drug Ring Workers

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Inmate Allegedly Recruited Drug Ring Workers

DENVER (CBS4) ― A two-year covert investigation has led to an inmate being charged with allegedly calling the shots inside Colorado State Penitentiary for a multi-state drug ring.

The inmate, Pedro Mendoza, is accused of recruiting parolees coming out of prison in Canon City to work for his brother's California-based drug ring. The ring allegedly supplied large quantities of methamphetamine to Denver, Greeley and Colorado Springs for at least four years.

Investigators secretly recorded CSP visits between Mendoza and family members, monitored telephone calls of inmates and reviewed inmate prison accounts that allegedly show at least $1,800 from methamphetamine sales coming into the prison.

Copies of letters and transcribed telephone conversations indicated that several inmates at the high-security prison "were heavily involved with the transportation and distribution" of the illegal drug, FBI agent Matthew Richardson wrote in a court affidavit.

Criminal investigation agents of the Colorado Department of Corrections, the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration worked together on the probe.

Mendoza, 31, was charged Monday with conspiracy from within the prison to distribute methamphetamine. When he appeared in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, he was told he faces not less than 10 years in federal prison, if convicted.

He is serving a five-year sentence in the state prison for El Paso County drug crimes.

Mendoza's brother, Jesus Nunez, allegedly imported methamphetamine from Mexico to his headquarters in Coachella, Calif., and then transported it to Colorado.

Nunez allegedly sent money to Mendoza in exchange for recruiting inmates who were being paroled. Mendoza allegedly used phone calls and letters from inside the prison to arrange payments for the new members of the ring.

Nunez and three associates were indicted in October in U.S. District Court. The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Allen, said their cases are awaiting dispositions.

Authorities said they have seized more than 40 pounds of methamphetamine from Nunez's ring, eight guns, and $260,000 in proceeds from the sales.

(© MMVIII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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