Before a federal judge, convicted drug smuggler Jeffrey Baldanado spoke on his relationship with meth.

"It keeps the sadness away. It numbs the depression," he said. 

Today, Baldanado was sentenced to two and a half years in the bureau of prisons.

He along with James Damaso was convicted for dealing more than a half-million dollars in meth and smuggling pounds of the drug through the mail in 2019.

Baldanado told Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood today he needed the money and has since learned it's not worth it.

Defense attorney Leilani Lujan also asked the court that Baldanado be held in a facility away from Damaso.

Lujan alleged Damaso had gestured to Baldanado that he is a dead man whenever both were held at the Hagatna Detention Facility.

“His safety even in the BOP is affected due to his cooperation,”  she said. “He was the government’s star witness and he will be labeled a snitch, which will create a tremendous danger for him.”

Since Baldanado cooperated with the feds, Lujan alleged Damaso’s associates repeatedly threatened him and his family. 

Assistant US Attorney Rosetta San Nicolas said in response, “he chose his codefendants.”