2nd Chicago man caught with nearly $750K of meth at Crystal Lake motel pleads guilty

A second Chicago man arrested in September in the parking lot of a Crystal Lake motel with nearly $750,000 worth of methamphetamine and fentanyl has pleaded guilty.

Jesus Benitez-Estrada, 43, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of more than 900 grams of methamphetamine, a Class X felony, according to an order signed by Judge Mark Gerhardt in the McHenry County court.

About 2 p.m., Sept. 19,, members of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Task Force arrested Benitez-Estrada and German Armenta-Ruiz, 59, in the parking lot of a Motel 8. They were in possession of more than 16 pounds of methamphetamine mixed with fentanyl having a street value of $746,940, authorities said.

At the men’s initial court appearances last year, at which both were detained in the county jail pretrial, Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger argued the state had not shown they had the drugs for the purpose of selling them. If anything, prosecutors showed the men were “unwitting couriers,” Giesinger said.

“Dealers like to use people with little criminal background to transport drugs without their knowledge,” Giesinger added.

In April, Armenta-Ruiz also pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing methamphetamine and fentanyl and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, records show.

Benitez-Estrada is required to serve half his prison time, followed by one year and six months of mandatory supervised release. He will receive credit for 280 days in custody, the judgment order said.