US

3 Men Sentenced To Federal Prison For Fentanyl Trafficking Conspiracy With Catastrophic Potential

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Two Florida men were sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and a third received a 15-year sentence for a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy, the Middle District of Florida U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza sentenced Alejandro Acevedo Luna, 34, and Juan Carlos Garcia, 38, to 15 years and 10 years in prison respectively after they conspired to sell more than a kilogram of fentanyl for $33,000. according to the office’s press release. The fentanyl’s provider, Luis Omar Rosa Cotto, 32, was subsequently arrested possessing more than half a kilogram, and Mendoza sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment on Friday, the same day he sentenced Acevedo Luna.

The recovered drugs were all found to be the fentanyl analogue p-Fluorofentanyl, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. The Apopka Police Department apprehended Acevedo Luna and Garcia in a traffic stop, finding a loaded handgun in the vehicle.

One kilogram of fentanyl can potentially kill half a million people, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Synthetic opioid overdoses were estimated to have killed more than 71,000 people nationwide in 2021, based on provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Garcia was sentenced on Nov. 7, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He was convicted in October, while Rosa Cotto and Acevedo Luna pleaded guilty in July.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment beyond the press release.