Austin man tried to smuggle meth into US while eating cheeseburger

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A 30-year-old Austin man has been sentenced to 90 months in federal prison after he attempted to smuggle meth into the country while eating a cheeseburger.

The U.S Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas says in a news release that Yen-Tsun Huang was a passenger in a vehicle that attempted to pass through a Border Patrol checkpoint on July 4, 2020. 

Law enforcement noticed Huang displaying suspicious behavior by eating a cheeseburger immediately upon arrival. A K-9 also alerted authorities to the presence of narcotics within the vehicle.

Authorities referred Huang to a secondary inspection and that's when they discovered brick-shaped objects strapped to each of Huang's thighs. The objects contained a total of 738.56 grams of meth.

Huang pleaded guilty in November 2020.

On June 27, 2022, a U.S. district judge ordered Huang to serve a total of 90 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.

Huang, who is a citizen of Taiwan, will also lose his legal permanent resident status and be issued an immigration detainer upon completion of his incarceration. 

Officials say Huang will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.