Drug-trafficking kingpin pleads guilty in meth case

By Jackie Valley

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 | 4:16 p.m.

A drug-trafficking ringleader associated with the largest methamphetamine bust in Southern Nevada has pleaded guilty to several felony charges, officials said.

As part of a plea agreement, 27-year-old Oscar Cavadas pleaded guilty Tuesday in Clark County District Court to trafficking in controlled substances, unlawful possession of a firearm and conspiracy to violate the uniform controlled substances act.

Cavadas will accept a sentence of life in prison for the trafficking charge when he is sentenced in February, officials said. Prosecutors, however, have agreed to ask that Cavadas be eligible for parole after nine years in prison as part of the plea deal.

Prosecutors also will ask that the sentences for the other two charges run concurrently with the life sentence, officials said.

The case dates to July 2011 when the Southern Nevada Drug Task Force seized more than 200 pounds of methamphetamine, 11 vehicles and about $300,000 in cash during the execution of several search warrants in the Las Vegas Valley.

Cavadas, who authorities believe was the head of the drug-trafficking ring, was one of 14 people charged in connection with the raids. Two of the 14 people charged remain at large, officials said. The others have pleaded guilty to various drug-related felonies.

The Southern Nevada Drug Task Force spent more than a year investigating the drug-trafficking organization. The task force includes officers from Metro Police, Henderson Police, North Las Vegas Police, as well as authorities from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office.