Opinion
23-2863
05-30-2024
United States of America Plaintiff-Appellee v. Ruben Cazares Defendant-Appellant
Unpublished
Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
Before BENTON, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
After Ruben Cazares pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, the district court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846. He argues that he did not deserve a two-level "organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor" role enhancement. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(c).
The Honorable Eric C. Tostrud, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.
There was no error, procedural or otherwise, because the evidence established that Cazares supervised at least one other person. See United States v. Werkmeister, 62 F.4th 465, 468 (8th Cir. 2023) (reviewing for clear error). For one thing, he told a co-conspirator how much methamphetamine to give a buyer. See id. at 470 (noting that "directing] the criminal activities of another conspirator on one occasion" is enough for the enhancement); see also United States v. Gamboa, 701 F.3d 265, 267 (8th Cir. 2012). For another, cellphone records showed that he was a "key link" between drug suppliers and local distributors. United States v. Reyes-Ramirez, 916 F.3d 1146, 1148 (8th Cir. 2019) (citation omitted). He played a supervisory or managerial role, in other words, so we affirm the judgment of the district court.