Drug Trafficker Draws 35-Year Prison Sentence Cocaine: The term for member of a ring that amassed record amount of the narcotic in Sylmar is more than double the recommended length.: [Home Edition]

A member of a drug-trafficking ring that amassed a record amount of cocaine in a Sylmar warehouse was sentenced Thursday to 35 years in prison by a federal judge, who declared that the enormity of the crime justified a term more than double the length recommended by probation authorities.

Before the sentence was pronounced in Los Angeles by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr., the convicted defendant, Jose Ignacio Monroy, 38, of Mexico City, wept and pleaded for mercy.

"I have committed an offense which gives me a great deal of pain," Monroy told Hatter through an interpreter. "I wish that it had never happened."

Under federal law, Monroy will have to serve about 30 years in prison before being considered for release.

Hatter said the stiff sentence, based on Monroy's conviction on drug conspiracy and trafficking charges, was justified given "the voluminous amount of drugs involved here" that had an "impact not only on the Los Angeles area but on the nation as...