A convicted drug trafficker was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison -- after the judge saw grisly pictures of a murder victim that the trafficker texted to his own girlfriend.
Juan Castro-Navarro, 43, of Sinaloa, Mexico, had pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel called him a "monster" who distributed "poison" in the U.S.
Castro was not charged with murder because the victim appears not to have been a U.S. citizen and the 2014 killing occurred in Tijuana, prosecutors said.
At sentencing, prosecutors introduced a series of text messages sent by Castro to his fellow traffickers and his girlfriend showing pictures of a rival gang member who had been kidnapped and killed because he stole a quantity of methamphetamine from Castro.