Jose Miriel Morales Sanchez, Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin and Fentanyl, Florida 2024

Tampa, Florida – A Tampa man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a Hillsborough County drug trafficking organization.

Jose Miriel Morales Sanchez, 32, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber for conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl.

Morales Sanchez pleaded guilty to the charges on March 4, 2024.

According to court documents, Morales Sanchez conspired with William Franqui and others to distribute heroin and fentanyl in the Middle District of Florida from an unknown date not later than September 1, 2017, and continuing through August 27, 2020.

The organization, led by Franqui, used runners to field calls from customers and fulfill orders. The runners distributed the heroin to users in plastic baggies for $10 a bag.

More than a kilogram of heroin was distributed through the runner network, and Franqui also distributed larger quantities of heroin and fentanyl to other drug dealers. Investigators connected multiple overdoses to the heroin and fentanyl distributed by the DTO.

William Franqui was sentenced in August 2023 to 14 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl. Morales Sanchez and codefendants Kevin Darnell Diaz Tirado, Edgardo Colon Rosado, and Orlando Muniz Escalera were all part of Franqui’s runner network and also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and were sentenced in previous hearings. Judge Barber previously sentenced Diaz Tirado to 5 years, Muniz Escalera to 10 years, and Colon Rosado to 6 years and 6 months in federal prison.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tampa Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Sinacore.

The investigation is the result of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) program, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles significant drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.

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