The arrest led to one of the larger seizures of heroin in La Salle County history – a total of 27 pounds – and Roberto Carias-Moran paid a steep price for hauling it.

Moran, 54, of Banning, California, was sentenced Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court to 30 years in prison for a Super Class X felony carrying a mandatory sentence of 15 to 60 years. He must serve 75% of his time.

When offered a chance to speak, Carias-Moran asked (through an interpreter) forgiveness. Then, however, he said he was induced at gunpoint into hauling the drugs.

“I didn’t have an option,” he said. “I had to transport it if I didn’t want my family killed. They didn’t give me money. They didn’t promise me anything.”

But Judge Cynthia M. Raccuglia dismissed the story as “not credible” and said she was “disgusted and horrified” by the volume of heroin and the “clear intent” to conceal it.

Carias-Moran was charged following a Nov. 12, 2020, traffic stop in which investigators first seized 18 pounds of heroin concealed in fire extinguishers and, later, another 9 pounds found in a concealed compartment. (Though the 9-pound seizure was suppressed and not part of his February plea, prosecutors cited it as evidence in aggravation.)

“Unless there’s some sort of message sent and a continued effort at interdiction made, it’s not going to stop.”

—  La Salle County State's Attorney Joe Navarro

Peru defense attorney Douglas Olivero asked Raccuglia to opt for the minimum 15 years, citing Carias-Moran’s clean record and his multiple defendants. Olivero said 30 years is “half a life sentence” and possibly a death sentence for Carias-Moran.

“Studies have shown that incarceration shortens one’s life,” Olivero said. “Each year of prison takes two years of an individual’s life.”

But La Salle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro argued a long sentence was necessary to deter other would-be traffickers and downplayed the notion Carias-Moran was anything other than a direct participant in a haul valued at $360,000.

“Unless there’s some sort of message sent and a continued effort at interdiction made, it’s not going to stop,” Navarro said.

Carias-Moran is a native of El Salvador who was in the U.S. on a soon-expiring visa. He will, by law, be deported after completing his prison time.