Flavio Diego Rivera Davalos, Fentanyl Smuggling, California 2018

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Tijuana College Student Sentenced to 87 Months in Custody for Smuggling Fentanyl

A 20-year-old Tijuana college student, Flavio Diego Rivera Davalos, has been sentenced to 87 months in custody for smuggling approximately 77 pounds of fentanyl into the United States.

Davalos, a visa holder, was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on December 8, 2017 following one of the largest seizures of the deadly opioid along the Southwest border.

According to court documents, Davalos entered the United States from Mexico through the San Ysidro, California Port of Entry. He was the driver, sole occupant, and registered owner of the 2010 Ford Focus bearing Baja California, Mexico license plates.

During a pre-primary inspection, a Customs and Border Protection Officer and an assigned Narcotics and Human Detection Dog were conducting roving operations when the canine alerted to the odor of narcotics in the vehicle.

CBP officers detected anomalies in the rear seat and rear quarter panels of the vehicle and found 31 packages of fentanyl throughout the vehicle, including in the driver’s side quarter panel, the passenger’s side quarter panel, the driver’s side rear seat, the passenger’s side rear seat, the speaker box, and the firewall under the hood.

Davalos initially agreed to transport drug proceeds from Los Angeles to Tijuana and the traffickers gave a vehicle to him, which he used for work and college. Traffickers also gave money to Davalos to place the vehicle in his own name and directed him to ‘burn’ the plates through the Port of Entry to minimize suspicion.

Davalos was also directed to provide receipts of his crossings to the traffickers to confirm that he had multiple crossings. Davalos gave his vehicle to the traffickers the day before he crossed, thereby facilitating the placement of drugs in his vehicle.

On August 6, 2018, District Judge Larry A. Burns sentenced Davalos to 87 months in custody based on his guilty plea admitting that he smuggled approximately 77 pounds of fentanyl into the United States.

The 77 pounds of fentanyl would yield 800,000 potentially fatal dosage units and a market value of more than $2 million, according to expert opinions included in court records.

The defendant, Flavio Diego Rivera Davalos, Age 20, Tijuana, Mexico.

The charges against Davalos include Importation of Controlled Substance: 10 year minimum mandatory to life; fine of $1 million dollars; at least 3 years of supervised release; $100 Special Assessment.

This case was investigated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).