A cartel courier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for trying to transport thousands of heroin pills across southern Arizona.
Sergio Ramon Chavez was arrested during a traffic stop in February 2017.
A DPS trooper attempted to stop Chavez near El Con Mall when Chavez jumped out of his car and started to run.
The trooper searched the car and found a McDonald's bag containing 5,386 heroin pills worth $53,000.
Troopers found him hiding in the bushes of a nearby apartment complex.
He told them the cartel was paying him $1,500 to pick up and deliver the drugs.
Chavez was found guilty of transportation of heroin for sale, illegally conducting an enterprise, and conspiracy to transport heroin for sale during a trial last month.
