FRESNO -  Darrell Leon Jennings, 51, of Bakersfield, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Jennings, a trucker doing business in Moreno Valley as Jennings Transportation, assisted Mario Alvarez-Muniz, 50, of Taft, in transporting 6 kilograms of heroin and 11 kilograms of cocaine destined for Chicago. After Alvarez-Muniz arranged for the shipment of the drugs from Mexico to Mira Loma, Jennings picked up the drugs and drove back to Bakersfield where he was stopped by agents. A police dog located the drugs in a customized hidden compartment in Jennings’ truck.

Jennings is scheduled for sentencing on January 28, 2019, by Chief U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill. Jennings faces a mandatory minimum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison, along with a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. Co-defendant Alvarez-Muniz previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison.

This case is the product of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, California Highway Patrol, Bakersfield Police Department, and Kern County Probation Office. OCDETF is the centerpiece of the United States Attorney General’s drug strategy to reduce the availability of drugs by disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations and related criminal enterprises. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar is prosecuting the case.