By admin 
TUCSON, AZ (AZFamily) — After nearly two decades on the run, a man wanted for drug crimes in Arizona is back in the United States to learn his fate.
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Jorge Lamadrid-Carranza, who had warrants out of Arizona and Michigan, was returned to the country this week, three years after his arrest in Mexico.
Lamadrid-Carranza was first arrested in Sept. 2007 after authorities seized nearly 11,000 pounds of marijuana from a home and vehicle in Tucson. Authorities say the home was modified with commercial equipment to refrigerate, store and process the drugs. At that time, investigators estimated the marijuana was worth $5.5 million.
Lamadrid-Carranza was arrested again in 2008 as part of a federal investigation in Michigan. He posted a $10,000 bond and returned to Arizona to await further court proceedings.
In March 2009, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana in a case in which nearly four tons of drugs were trafficked between 2001 and 2004. When he failed to appear for sentencing, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest that August.
In a separate Arizona case, prosecutors withdrew a plea agreement and took Lamadrid-Carranza to trial. Prosecutors charged him with 18 felonies in connection with a large-scale marijuana distribution operation. After he failed to appear, Pima County Superior Court issued a warrant for his arrest in Sept. 2009.
After years on the run, U.S. Marshals Service authorities tracked Lamadrid-Carranza to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and took him into custody on Oct. 16, 2023.
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Lamadrid-Carranza remained in Mexico for three years before being brought back to Arizona on Thursday.
The U.S. Marshals Service is working with Pima County authorities and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan regarding his outstanding warrants and court proceedings.
“Lamadrid-Carranza’s arrest in Mexico and return to Arizona took years of persistence and cooperation across borders,” said U.S. Marshal Van Bayless for the District of Arizona. “We appreciate the work of Mexican authorities and our law enforcement partners in bringing him back before the courts. Time and distance did not end our commitment to seeing these cases addressed.”
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