MARTINEZ — When Rene Aguayo crashed his car on Interstate 680 here four years ago, suffering numerous fractures and ending up in a coma, who could have predicted the near-tragedy would one day land him in federal prison?
According to court records, that vehicle crash was the inciting event that led Aguayo to seek an illegal income stream after his disability benefits were cut off, sending his life down a spiral that ended like this: On June 26, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sentenced Aguayo to three years in federal prison, following his guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Aguayo, a Martinez resident, was busted in 2023 with more than four pounds of cocaine, bagged up for sale, inside his home. Police also found a stash of methamphetamine for personal use, a loaded pistol, $7,940 in cash, and some silencers hidden in a gaming room, according to court records. Aguayo explained he had won the pistol from at a poker game, and the “idiot” had offered it up instead of money.
Both prosecutors and Aguayo’s attorney agree that, despite the prison term, he has reason to be optimistic for his future. His sentencing was postponed until after his completion of a sobriety program, and the defense argued his drug addiction was the root cause of both the crash and the cocaine dealing. A prosecution sentencing memo says “the government hopes that Mr. Aguayo uses the time spent in federal custody to better himself and to continue to address the drug addiction.”
Aguayo worked for various restoration companies in the 2020s but “lost himself” in 2022, after his disability benefits dried up. In the September 2021 crash, he suffered a brain injury that caused memory loss, nerve damage, as well a fractured skull, shattered eye sockets, broken ribs, broken fibula and a shattered right ankle, court filings by the defense say. After losing his benefits, his family sought help through an online fundraiser for the “horrific” crash, but it wasn’t enough.
“The accident not only damaged his body, it damaged his spirit because it was impossible for Mr. Aguayo to earn a living. Mr. Aguayo’s sense of self was intrinsically linked to his ability to work and provide,” defense attorney Sierra Promise Dugan wrote in a sentencing memo. “Still in a wheelchair, without the ability to work, Mr. Aguayo was in a desperate situation and turned to drug sales to make ends meet. This is a choice Mr. Aguayo deeply regrets.”
Prosecutors say that the Contra Costa Sheriff’s office was investigating a bigger cocaine dealer, Jaime Limon-Gonzalez, who was caught with nine-and-a-half pounds of cocaine and $14,297 during 2023 raids of stash houses in Modesto and Pleasant Hill. When police searched his phone they found texts between him and Aguayo discussing cocaine sales, according to court records.
That investigation took a darker turn. Once behind bars, Limon-Gonzalez discovered an unnamed government informant had given up information about him in December 2022. He and another man then discussed plans — recorded on a jail phone — to “‘pay [the informant] a visit,’ and ‘take care of him’ such that the informant should ‘enjoy these days for now,’” prosecutors said in court filings.
Limon-Gonzalez was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison last year.
