Montoya v. State

SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

Appellant, Maria Montoya, was convicted of trafficking in more than four hundred grams of cocaine and was sentenced to serve thirty years in prison and to pay a $250,000 fine. On appeal, she challenges both her conviction and sentence. We find merit only in Montoya’s sentencing issue.

The trial court departed upward from the minimum mandatory sentence of fifteen years prescribed by section 893.135(1)(b)(3), Florida Statutes (1987), based on the quantity of narcotics involved. This has been held, however, to be an improper reason to *630depart. Atwaters v. State, 519 So.2d…