Jose Salud Botello-Vargas of Mexico is our Minnesota Man of the Day for November 20. He is due in court this morning at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis to be sentenced on felony drug charge.
Botello was indicted back in April, along with his brother, on three counts related to meth dealing out of Melrose. Botello was charged with an additional felony count of illegal reentry of a previously deported alien. Court records show that he had been deported most recently back in June 2022.
He has two previous deportations on his record, along with a prior conviction on a reentry charge back in 2017 (Arizona). At the state level, Botello has been convicted on felony drug charges (Stearns County in 2016 and Mille Lacs County in 2017) and for drunk (meth) driving.
In July, Botello pled guilty to one count of meth dealing. Sentencing guidelines included in the plea agreement called for a prison sentence of five years, the mandatory minimum. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of more than six years.
Botello’s defense attorney submits that Botello is a meth addict, but also a hard worker, employed at a local turkey farm. A father of five, our Minnesota Dad will surely miss his family when he is inevitably deported back to Mexico.
Taking the runner-up prize for the day is Misael Ramos-Gaspar, also scheduled for a morning court appearance for a sentencing hearing.
Also from Mexico, Ramos was indicted in late August on a felony reentry charge and had been deported twice in 2020.
As a participant in the Fast Track program for such cases, Ramos will be sentenced to time served in custody and returned to Mexico.
His defense attorney reports that Ramos will return to Veracruz and move back in with his parents. He plans on working in the agricultural field, “picking avocados, chayote squash, and corn.”
¡Adiós, Misael, adiós!
