Agne Vasquez
The Agne Vasquez Case
What happened in Agne’s case makes us just shake our heads in disgust.
The federal government wants you to believe only big-time drug kingpins receive harsh sentences that span decades. But that’s not the case. In reality, low-level, first-time nonviolent drug offenders routinely get crushed with brutal decades-long sentences while the drug kingpins get a relative slap on the wrist. This is because, in a lot of cases, it’s the kingpins who have the best information to trade to the federal government (about other criminals in the drug trade) in exchange for a greatly reduced sentence, essentially cashing in on their central involvement and role at the top of a drug operation.
Agne Vasquez is far from a drug kingpin. Agne is a husband and proud papa of two young daughters. His daughters are now ages 17 and 16, but they were very young when Agne was arrested about 12 years ago. Tragically, while serving his sentence, Agne lost one of his young daughters to a brain tumor. She would have been 21 this December. Despite Agne’s lengthy incarceration, Agne and his wife and daughters are still very close.
Agne is serving decades for a first-time nonviolent drug offense—a sentence that exceeds most sentences for such heinous crimes as murder and rape.
In particular, Agne was sentenced to nearly 25 years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 or more grams of methamphetamine. There is no parole in the federal system.
As was mentioned, Agne is a first-time offender. Agne did not hurt anybody and was not a leader of the conspiracy. Agne wasn’t even accused of selling methamphetamine.
To inflate Agne’s sentence, the court pinned three drug deals on him and used the very conduct of which the jury acquitted Agne.
Agne Walks onto His Front Porch While His Cousin Quintero Sells 336 Grams of Methamphetamine to an Undercover Officer in a Car Parked in Front of the House.
Agne was inside his house when a friend knocked on the door, and Agne stepped out to greet him. At that time, his cousin Quintero was in a parked car in front of the house. In the car, Quintero sold 366 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover officer.
The court held that even though Agne did not sell the drugs to the undercover officer, merely because he stepped out on his front porch during the transaction, he was a “lookout” or “security” for the transaction.
And because he was acting as a lookout and/or providing security, he is therefore responsible for the 366 grams of methamphetamine. Neither Quintero nor anybody else testified that Agne had anything to do with that transaction nor made a penny from it—he simply answered his door.
Agne, His Wife, and Two Young Daughters are Merely Present at Their Home While Quintero Sells 28 Grams of Methamphetamine to an Undercover Officer in a Car Parked in the Driveway.
Agne lived across the street from his cousin Tony Hernandez (the leader of the conspiracy) and next door to his brother, Roberto Vasquez (“Beto”).
On May 14, 2012, undercover officer Boston pulled up to Hernandez’s home to have new tires and rims put on his car. While the tires and rims were being installed, undercover agent Boston and Quintero stepped inside a Hummer (an SUV) parked in front of the house. Agent Boston testified that as he was in the Hummer buying 28 grams of methamphetamine from Quintero, Agne, his wife and two young daughters walked by, got into their car, and left.
Agne and his wife had just picked up their two daughters from school, and they simply walked out of the house, got into their car, and left.
After Agne and his family left, Quintero sold another 136 grams of methamphetamine to undercover officer Boston for a total of 164 grams.
The court held that Agne was responsible for the 164 grams sold by Quintero to undercover officer Boston. More specifically, the court held that since Agne and his wife and kids walked by the Hummer on the way to get into their car and leave while the 28 grams transaction occurred, Agne was somehow providing security for the transaction. And even though the additional 136-gram transaction occurred after Agne and his family left, he is also still responsible for that transaction.
If Agne was providing “security,” then why did he leave before the drug deal was even finished?
An Intercepted Phone Call Captures Quintero Negotiating a $50 Methamphetamine Deal.
At Agne’s bond hearing, the government maintained that Agne made a call to Flaco and then handed the phone to Quintero, who was captured on a recorded phone call talking about a $50 methamphetamine transaction.
First-time, Low-level Offender Agne Receives Substantially Longer Prison Time Than the Kingpin.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Tony Hernandez, the kingpin, was responsible for illegally importing approximately 1,200 kilograms of methamphetamine and multiple kilograms of cocaine from Mexico monthly:
Based on methamphetamine prices during that time, that’s more than $100 million of methamphetamine a year.
Because of his position at the top of the drug world, Cousin Tony received about 16 years in prison. Cousin Tony’s sentence was reduced a second time, down to about eight years in prison. The man whom the government said was responsible for importing more than $100 million in methamphetamine a year is at home with his family after a little slap on the wrist. It’s good to be a drug kingpin who eager federal agents and prosecutors can milk for valuable information. It’s not so good to be Agne, the low man on the totem pole, however—who received about two and a half decades in federal prison for his role as a “lookout” or “security” for two drug deals carried out by someone else.
We’ve all seen the movies, folks. A dangerous drug deal occurs while a menacing-looking armed security henchman stands nearby, ready to strike if the drug deal goes bad. This was hardly such a situation. This was Agne merely stepping out onto his front porch (prompted by someone knocking on the door) while a drug deal was going on in a car parked outside, and Quintero selling methamphetamine to an undercover officer in a parked car while Agne, with his wife and daughters, walked by to get into their car and leave. Further, most of the methamphetamine Quintero sold to the undercover officer was sold after Agne left the scene.
Together, 507 grams of methamphetamine were attributed to Agne for sentencing purposes. To help ratchet up Agne’s sentence by more years, the judge even used conduct that the jury had acquitted Agne of.
What’s more, Agne is the only defendant who went to trial. He received a sentence not only significantly harsher than the kingpin, cousin Tony, but harsher than everyone involved, including Tony’s trusted Lieutenants, who, like cousin Tony, were centrally involved in the methamphetamine operation and much more culpable than Agne:
Tony Hernandez, aka “T,” age 31, was sentenced to 200 months
Johnny Angel Gamez, age 22, was sentenced to 120 months
Sergio Picasso-Nieto, age 35, was sentenced to 240 months
Miguel Quintero, aka “Chuckie,” age 20, was sentenced to 262 months
Agne Vasquez, age 29, was sentenced to 292 months
Andres Vasquez, age 45, was sentenced to 151 months
Baltazar Vasquez, age 25, was sentenced to 168 months
Roberto Vasquez, aka “Beto/Bubba,” age 21, was sentenced to 240 months
Maria Reyna Vasquez, age 46, was sentenced to 240 months
Notably, the federal government employed highly sophisticated investigative techniques such as intercepting telephone calls, installing a street camera that watched Agne’s home, and undercover agents who made controlled buys. That is, Agne was under constant surveillance for an extended period, yet this is the only drug activity Agne was tied to.
Additionally, Agne was brought to this country (from Mexico) at four years of age. His entire family was immersed in the drug business. He struggled to remove himself from the drug activity, but that meant cutting ties with his whole family. In relation to this case, Agne’s mother, his mother’s boyfriend, uncle, brother, and three cousins were all imprisoned. Not only does Agne have to serve a grossly inflated sentence fit for a murderer for walking out to his front porch and walking by a parked car while a drug deal was happening, but he will be deported upon release, a devastating blow to a man who has two kids and a wife, who has been in the U.S. since infancy, and who has no ties to Mexico. These stiff collateral consequences pile on the punishment and add to the strain.
Compassion is not a feeling; compassion acts. And Agne needs a skilled Clemency advocate to be his voice.