A man caught driving with 270 pounds of methamphetamine and a kilogram of cocaine from southern California to Oregon was sentenced Wednesday to just over 14 years in federal prison.
In March, Anthony Barrera, 31, pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut said a serious sentence was warranted for the large amount of methamphetamine Barrera was transporting. But she rejected the prosecutor’s request for an even longer term. She said she considered that the arrest marked Barrera’s first drug-trafficking case and that he took responsibility immediately.
Prosecutor Jessica R. Keefer sought a sentence of more than 17 years, citing the “massive” amount of methamphetamine and Barrera’s role in introducing the drugs into the state while he was on supervision for an unrelated drunken driving conviction in 2025.
Defense lawyer Larry R. Roloff urged a shorter prison term of 10 years, the mandatory minimum sentence for the crime. He argued that the amount of drugs seized “paints a misleading picture of his actual role” in the delivery. Barrera was 29 and “in the grip” of severe alcohol addiction at the time of his drug trafficking, Roloff said. He started out as a “classic mule,” delivering small quantities of drugs as a favor to a friend, and it escalated. Roloff also said Barrera was not carrying any guns when caught transporting the drugs.
“His whole life has been destroyed by alcohol,” Roloff said, noting Barrera started drinking at age 13. He said Barrera was intoxicated on the day of his arrest, and that his alcoholism kept him from obtaining his bachelor’s degree at Portland State University.
The judge said she struggled to understand the alleged connection between drug trafficking and his alcohol abuse, noting that federal investigators said he did not appear intoxicated upon arrest.
“He’s not minimizing his role as a dealer. It’s significant and he’s taken responsibility for that,” Roloff said.
FBI agents and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Special Investigations Unit investigators arrested Barrera about 7 p.m. on May 24, 2025, at a Roseburg rest stop off Interstate 5 after he got out of his truck to smoke a cigarette, according to Detective Jarrett Miller, of the sheriff’s office.
They found one brick of cocaine and numerous large packages of methamphetamine wrapped in aluminum foil and cellophane concealed in bags in the back of the pickup truck.
Barrera had rented the pickup from May 20 to May 27, 2025. Investigators had tracked Barrera from the geolocation data tied to two phone numbers associated with Barrera, according to court records.
Barrera told investigators that about 20 pounds of the methamphetamine belonged to him and the remainder to someone else, and that he sold drugs for a living, Miller wrote in a federal affidavit. Barrera estimated that he had made the trip to southern California to pick up a drug stash at least three times that year, the affidavit said.
The FBI and sheriff’s investigators also searched Barrera’s home in Estacada, where they found two guns, a revolver and a pistol, hidden under a removable piece of flooring in his bedroom closet. They also seized $2,860 in cash from his wallet at the time of his arrest, according to court records.
Barrera said he was “greatly embarrassed and ashamed” to be in court in front of his parents, sisters and cousin.
He said he “didn’t really think through my choices,” and at the time did not recognize the danger of the drugs he was carrying into Oregon for sale.
He told the judge that his time in custody awaiting sentencing had given him insight into how the drugs have devastated families, children and communities.
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