Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes, Fentanyl Trafficking, New York 2024
A brazen online scheme to distribute deadly fentanyl and other controlled substances has been brought to an end, thanks to the convictions of two key players.
Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes, aka 'Frank,' and Edward Eustate Jimenez, aka 'Chino,' were found guilty by a jury following a six-week trial before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan.
Lopez Reyes, 45, was convicted of being a principal administrator of a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, narcotics distribution, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Jimenez, 35, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and narcotics distribution.
The defendants' conspiracy was responsible for sending fake pharmaceutical pills that actually contained fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, which killed a victim, a 45-year-old female United States Army veteran, in February 2024.
According to prosecutors, Lopez Reyes ran an enterprise that distributed pills containing fentanyl, parafluorofentanyl, methamphetamine, and other controlled substances via sales through purported online pharmacies for at least two and a half years.
The pills were shipped to thousands of victims in all 50 U.S. states and were dyed, shaped, and designed to look indistinguishable from the prescription medications they were marketed as, including oxycodone and Adderall.
Lopez Reyes oversaw a series of pill mills located primarily in the basements of residential buildings in the Bronx and Washington Heights, where workers mixed controlled substances with inert powders and dyes and then pressed those powders into millions of pills.
The defendants' scheme was staggering in scale, with shipments of more than one million pills to victims over a two-and-a-half year period, and another approximately 650,000 pills seized by law enforcement during searches of mills and stash houses.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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