United States v. Ruben Cazares

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 23-2863

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United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Ruben Cazares

Defendant - Appellant

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Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota

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Submitted: April 12, 2024 Filed: May 30, 2024

[Unpublished]

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Before BENTON, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

After Ruben Cazares pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, the district court1 sentenced him to 10 years in prison. See 21

1 The Honorable Eric C. Tostrud, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.

U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846. He argues that he did not deserve a two-level “organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor” role enhancement. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(c).

There was no error, procedural or otherwise, because the evidence established that Cazares supervised at least one other person. See United States v. Werkmeister, 62 F.4th 465, 468 (8th Cir. 2023) (reviewing for clear error). For one thing, he told a co-conspirator how much methamphetamine to give a buyer. See id. at 470 (noting that “direct[ing] the criminal activities of another conspirator on one occasion” is enough for the enhancement); see also United States v. Gamboa, 701 F.3d 265, 267 (8th Cir. 2012). For another, cellphone records showed that he was a “key link” between drug suppliers and local distributors. United States v. Reyes-Ramirez, 916 F.3d 1146, 1148 (8th Cir. 2019) (citation omitted). He played a supervisory or managerial role, in other words, so we affirm the judgment of the district court.

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