ST. CLOUD -- The second leader of a large drug ring that brought methamphetamine to Minnesota from other states has been sentenced.

Thirty-nine-year-old Hernando Nambo-Salas was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday. He pleaded guilty in January to Conspiracy to Import Controlled Substances Across State Borders into Minnesota.

Another co-defendant in the case, 35-year-old Francisco Nambo-Chacon pleaded guilty to the same charge last fall. Nambo-Chacon was sentenced to just over seven years in prison in February.

The charges stemmed from a three-year investigation into an ongoing conspiracy to sell large amounts of methamphetamine in central Minnesota. Investigators say they seized approximately 44 pounds of methamphetamine from drug dealers who delivered and sold "multiple pounds of methamphetamine on a routine and repeated basis."

Both Nambo-Salas and Nambo-Chacon were considered to be among the ringleaders of the drug distribution network which originated in Mexico and brought meth from states like California, Colorado, Texas and Washington.

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