Colorado man admits drug charge

By Gazette News Services

A Colorado man this week admitted he conspired to traffic more than 500 grams of methamphetamine in the Billings area last year.

Fabricio Orozco-Ambriz, 27, faces a minimum 10 years to life in prison and a $4 million fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Seykora said in October 2005, a detective with the City-County Special Investigation Unit received information about suspicious behavior in a Billings motel room that had been rented by a Billings resident. The detective found five people, none of whom had rented the room, in the room. One of the persons was Orozco-Ambriz. After getting consent to search the room, law enforcement officers found about 10 ounces of meth and $6,201 in cash.

In April, a confidential informant told law enforcement about drug trafficking activities of Orozco-Ambriz, who had told him the meth and money seized in the motel room were his. Orozco-Ambriz also told the informant his distribution was still active and that a man from Montana was driving to Denver and picking up two to three pounds of meth at a time to take back to Montana. The investigation was conducted by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Billings High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.

U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull set sentencing for Feb. 9.