Federal prosecutors say Christopher Roy Bretas, 49, tried to have nearly a kilogram of meth mailed from Mexico to a Casper apartment disguised as candy and addressed to “Crystal Ramirez” — all while he was still technically a federal inmate.
The alias, considering what investigators found in the package, was a little more on the nose.
The person who was supposed to receive the package — not Bretas — also had questions, a federal criminal complaint says.
“What the f--- is coming from Mexico lol,” the person texted Bretas.
Now, more than a year later, Bretas is poised to admit to at least some of it, with a plea agreement filed Wednesday and a change-of-plea hearing set for Nov. 5 in federal court in Cheyenne.
'Any Mail?'
The alleged scheme began in May 2025, when a FedEx package left Mexico bound for an apartment in Casper.
On paper, it didn't look sinister. It was declared as a “gift” containing tamarind pulp, Mexican candy and a digital speaker with accessories. But investigators say tucked inside was 992 grams — about 2.2 pounds — of methamphetamine.
The package was addressed to “Crystal Ramirez,” a person whom investigators determined did not live at the apartment. They believed the name was an alias used to distance the intended recipient from the contraband.
Leading up to its expected arrival, investigators say Bretas kept reaching out to the apartment's resident.
“Any mail,” he asked May 9, according to the complaint.
He continued asking for several days before telling the resident May 13 that a “fed ex” package was coming.
The package would never arrive.
Homeland Security Investigations stopped it in Memphis, Tennessee, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers X-rayed and opened it. Agents discovered about 1.3 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine inside.
HSI then shipped the seized package to its Casper field office, where a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent photographed the evidence and weighed the suspected meth at 992 grams.
Agents also began watching the Casper apartment. They determined no Crystal Ramirez lived there, identified its actual occupant, and obtained a search warrant for the residence.
Follow The Candy
Two days later, on May 15, agents caught up with Bretas as he returned to the Casper Reentry Center.
Bretas was still a federal Bureau of Prisons inmate but was in the process of moving out of the halfway house and into home confinement.
They seized his cellphone under a state search warrant and interviewed him.
The federal complaint shows that, at first, Bretas denied knowing anything about controlled substances or the "gift."
He later offered an explanation.
Bretas told agents he had received a call from an unknown “218” number telling him a parcel would be delivered to the apartment. He claimed he was instructed to “keep the package safe until it was picked up,” but denied knowing what was inside.
His phone told a different story.
Investigators found several searches in Bretas' Chrome history that appeared to be tracking the parcel through a Spanish-language shipping website.
They also found photographs.
One, dated March 15, showed what DCI Special Agent Kiel Holder described as 14.3 ounces of a crystalline substance sitting on a digital scale.
Another looked like a screenshot of a conversation showing a large bag of suspected methamphetamine. Investigators said the conversation involved a phone number with a Mexican country code and was dated May 5 — three days before the package was shipped from Mexico.
Two more photos showed another phone displaying the parcel's location and tracking information in Spanish, and another picture sent to Bretas showed the original shipping slip itself, complete with the Casper apartment address and the name “Crystal Ramirez.”
Holder concluded Bretas knew what was in the package and intended to possess the methamphetamine. He also wrote that nearly a kilogram was not consistent with personal use and instead suggested distribution.
Déjà Vu
Bretas wasn't starting from a clean slate when it happened.
At the time of the alleged meth-and-candy scheme, Bretas was transitioning out of the Casper Reentry Center as part of a lengthy federal sentence stemming from another Wyoming methamphetamine case dating to 2017.
In that case, a federal grand jury accused Bretas and two other men of participating in a methamphetamine conspiracy in Wyoming.
Prosecutors alleged one of the men traveled to the Denver area to get multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine and gave some of it to Bretas, who redistributed the drug to customers in southeast Wyoming.
Court records show Bretas used a cell phone to arrange the receipt and distribution of the illicit product.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced in January 2018 to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison.
By March 2018, he was incarcerated at a federal correctional institution in Adelanto, California.
In a handwritten letter to the Wyoming federal court that month, Bretas asked the clerk to send him copies of his judgment and other court records.
Years later, that sentence brought him back to Wyoming and eventually the Casper Reentry Center.
15-to-Life
In the new case, a federal grand jury charged Bretas with knowingly attempting to possess 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
The indictment also invokes Bretas' previous drug felony.
With that prior-conviction enhancement alleged in the indictment, the charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life, along with a potential fine of up to $20 million.
The plea agreement filed Wednesday is not public, so its terms — including what Bretas intends to plead to and whether prosecutors will continue pursuing the prior-conviction enhancement — remain unknown.
Bretas is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in Cheyenne for a change-of-plea hearing.
Until then, the details of the deal remain sealed.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
