ATLANTA — Nearly 40 members of a drug trafficking organization have been sentenced to prison for their roles in distributing heroin, meth and fentanyl throughout metro Atlanta.
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Members of the drug trafficking organization included several State of Georgia prison inmates, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Wednesday.
“The successful dismantling of this large organization is a result of a tenacious multi-year effort from federal, state, and local authorities to root out narcotics trafficking originating from state prisons,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie Jr. “Our office will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to leverage all resources to identify, apprehend and prosecute entire networks of offenders responsible for distributing deadly drugs into our communities.”
Eusebio Paniagua-Paz remains a fugitive. Anyone with information on his whereabouts was urged to contact their local law enforcement agency.
Authorities said they learned that a group of prison inmates were using contraband phones to conduct drug transactions through metro Atlanta, including drug shipments from Mexico.
The suspects, considered prison brokers, relied on conspirators on the outside to store, package and distribute several types of illegal drugs.
The DOJ said other members of the organization were responsible for laundering the money from the drug sales to Mexico using local money senders. The organization also repeatedly threatened violence against uncooperative members. In one case, agents learned of a plot to abduct and murder a drug dealer, the DOJ said. Police quickly stopped the plan.
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A grand jury indicted 19 suspects for drug trafficking and money laundering. Then two of the high-level prison brokers, Jesus Sanchez-Morales and Juan Ramirez, were indicted for drug trafficking charges.
After Ramirez was brought into federal custody, he used another contraband cell phone to broker drug deals, including trying to distribute fentanyl. He was later charged.
Officials said over the multi-year investigation, they seized over 250 kilograms of meth, 25 gallons of liquid meth, over12,000 fentanyl pills, kilogram-quantities of fentanyl powder, heroin, and marijuana, and over $450,000 in drug proceeds.
The following were convicted and sentenced:
- Juan Ramirez was sentenced to 27 years in prison Wednesday, followed by five years of supervised release. Ramirez was convicted of 10 drug trafficking counts including conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl. He was found guilty in July 2024.
- Jesus Sanchez-Morales was sentenced to 27 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Sanchez-Morales was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in June 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Martin Maldonado was sentenced to 19 years, and seven months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Maldonado was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in April 2021, after he pleaded guilty.
- Benjamin Villareal Perez was sentenced to 19 years, and seven months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Perez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in September 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Jaime Chavez was sentenced to 17 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Chavez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in April 2021, after he pleaded guilty.
- Aszavious Anderson was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Anderson was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in May 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Kristofer Ty Armistead was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Armistead was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in June 2021, after he pleaded guilty.
- Mario Castillo was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Castillo was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in September 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Aricus Cantrell Holloway was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Holloway was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in April 2023, after he pleaded guilty.
- Cristian Hernandez-Lovo was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Hernandez-Lovo was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in September 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Jesus Antonio Molina-Ortiz was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Molina-Ortiz was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in August 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Jamar Tyrone Zanders was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Zanders was convicted of Conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in September 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Brandon Richard Duncan was sentenced to 14 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Duncan was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in July 2021, after he pleaded guilty.
- Joseph Dominic Edwards was sentenced to 14 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Edwards was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in August 2023, after he pleaded guilty.
- Rafael Alvarez was sentenced to 13 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Alvarez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in August 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Jason Garcia-Lara was sentenced to 13 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Garcia-Lara was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in June 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Jordan Duane Bowers was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Bowers was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on May 10, 2022, after he pleaded guilty.
- Emmanuel De Santos Nieto was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. De Santos Nieto was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on September 9, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Salvador Valencia-Zavala was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Valencia-Zavala was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on January 27, 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Marvin Gaye Banks was sentenced to 11 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Banks was convicted of Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on July 15, 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Samantha Fagundes was sentenced to 11 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Fagundes was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on January 15, 2020, after she pleaded guilty.
- Alejandro Vasquez-Lopez was sentenced to 10 years and nine months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Vasquez-Lopez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in May 2021, after he pleaded guilty.
- Shelly Denise Class was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Class was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl in October 2019, after she pleaded guilty.
- Edgar Ochoa Martinez was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Martinez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on July 22, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Allison Nichole Daniel was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Daniel was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on May 27, 2020, after she pleaded guilty.
- Enrique Rodriguez-Govea was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Rodriguez-Govea was convicted of convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on May 30, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Taurus Basil Stephens was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Stephens was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on December 16, 2020, after he pleaded guilty.
- Raheem Jamal Morris was sentenced to nine years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Morris was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on June 26, 2023, after he pleaded guilty.
- Lilia Martinez Rodriguez was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Martinez Rodriguez was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering on September 21, 2020, after she pleaded guilty.
- Roberto Rojas was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Rojas was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on January 13, 2023, after he pleaded guilty.
- Nicholas Charles Johnson was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Johnson was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on July 10, 2023, after he pleaded guilty.
- Leonardo Rosas was sentenced to six years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Rosas was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on October 3, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Daniel Gonzalez was sentenced to five years and four months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Gonzalez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on July 11, 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Juan Torres Chavez was sentenced to a time-served sentence of four years and nine months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Chavez was convicted of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on December 14, 2023, after he pleaded guilty.
- David Chavez-Ortiz was sentenced to four years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Chavez-Ortiz was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in October 2019, after he pleaded guilty.
- Antwonette Jarnez Thomas was sentenced to four years followed by five years of supervised release. Thomas was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in January 2021, after she pleaded guilty.
- Erin Cortez was sentenced to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Cortez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in January 2020, after she pleaded guilty.
- Joaquin Flores, Jr. was sentenced to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Flores was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in January 2024, after he pleaded guilty.
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