2 Downey men tied to drug cartel

One is sentenced to nearly six years in prison; the other, out on bond, is missing.

- CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN

THE DOWNEY apartment complex where the two men both lived sits on a quiet suburban street corner.

Two men linked to a Downey residence that authorities say was a smuggling hub for Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel faced sentencing this year before a federal judge.

One appeared last week in a Sacramento courtroom to learn his fate.

The other has been missing for months.

Julio Cesar Nevarez-Erunez, 24, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on Dec. 4 after pleading guilty to a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy charge.

His co-conspirator, Juan Niebla-Osuna, 28, struck a plea agreement with U.S. attorneys for the same charge and was out on bond, but was reported missing in late August, according to a pretrial services violation petition.

According to the petition, Niebla-Osuna left his Downey residence after his court-approved curfew on Aug. 25 — the day of his scheduled sentencing in the Eastern District of California.

His supervising officer hadn't seen him in weeks; his wife told authorities she was in Mexico and hadn't spoken with her husband since the day before he went missing; his mother noted that there were “suitcases near his bedroom” at his home, according to the petition.