A Mexican man has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking charges in Phoenix.
Prosecutors say 42-year-old Carlos Ramon Castro-Rocha pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to possess heroin with the intent to distribute.
Federal authorities identified Castro-Rocha as a leader of a drug-trafficking organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico.
They say his organization was responsible for growing, processing, importing and distributing large quantities of heroin via a Phoenix safe house.
The heroin was trafficked to cities throughout Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
The DEA says it seized nearly 48 pounds of heroin -- valued at more than $150,000 -- from Castro-Rocha's organization between October 2008 and April 2009.
Castro-Rocha was arrested in Mexico in 2010 and extradited to the United States in 2012.
