This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Utah man serving a 15-year prison sentence on drug and gun charges was among 111 inmates granted commutations Tuesday by President Barack Obama.
Orfil Javier Garza, of Kearns, who was sentenced in January 2010 in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, is now slated to be released Dec. 28. The 34-year-old is incarcerated at a federal prison in Mendota, Calif., in Fresno County.
According to a Drug Enforcement Administration affidavit, agents searching Garza's home and shed in December 2007 found about $60,000 in cash, a 9mm Ruger semi-automatic handgun and approximately two pounds of methamphetamine.
Garza later pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense.
His wife, Maria E. Martinez-Garcia, who also lived at the Kearns home, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and was sentenced in November 2009 to time served and five years of supervised release.
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