Albuquerque mom pleads guilty to using her kids to transport fentanyl to Texas
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque mother who hid fentanyl inside her children’s luggage pleaded guilty to a federal drug crime on Wednesday, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Magdalena Silva Banuelos, 47, pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl before U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn. Silva Banuelos was indicted in November 2020. On May 31, 2022, Silva Banuelos put her sons, ages 8 and 10, on a flight from Albuquerque to Dallas to visit her ex-husband, their father.
Man found guilty of killing Albuquerque church security guard
Surveillance video from Dallas/Love Field Airport showed that her ex-husband picked up the boys from the gate, went through their luggage, and then went into the airport restroom. A few minutes later, he overdosed and died in a restroom stall, according to the news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
Investigators who responded to the scene recovered a Clinique brand makeup container containing more than a gram of fentanyl. In plea papers, Silva Banuelos admitted she packed the fentanyl for her ex-husband’s use. “This case is a double tragedy: A pair of young boys lost one parent to drugs, and the other to the criminal justice system,“ said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton in the news release. “This defendant allowed her two young sons to fly more than 500 miles cross-country with a highly lethal synthetic opioid stashed inside their suitcase, knowing full well how dangerous it was.”
Per her plea agreement, Silva Banuelos faces 12 years in prison.
