Josue Morales-Medina, Heroin/Fentanyl Trafficking, Ohio 2015

DAYTON, Ohio – Josue Morales-Medina, a 41-year-old Mexican national, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 108 months in prison for his role in trafficking heroin laced with fentanyl in the Miami Valley.

According to court documents, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers stopped a vehicle in which Morales-Medina was a passenger on I-75 in Dayton in November 2015 for a traffic violation. Morales-Medina had approximately $298,000 in cash from trafficking drugs. Troopers contacted the Homeland Security Investigation’s Bulk Cash Smuggling Task Force. Investigators went to a Dayton home used by Morales and others to store drugs. Inside the home, investigators found more than eight kilograms of fentanyl, nearly one kilogram of heroin and a firearm. They arrested Morales-Medina. He has been in custody since his arrest. He pleaded guilty on May 20, 2016 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.

Morales-Medina, an illegal alien from Mexico, faces deportation at the conclusion of his prison sentence.

United States Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by those involved in the HSI Bulk Cash Smuggling Task Force, along with State Highway Patrol officers and Montgomery County Sheriff deputies, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Hunt, who represented the United States in this case.

The case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations’ Bulk Cash Smuggling Task Force, State Highway Patrol, and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Hunt represented the United States in this case.

Morales-Medina’s sentence is a result of a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin, according to court documents.

The investigation that led to Morales-Medina’s arrest began in November 2015 when Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers stopped a vehicle in which Morales-Medina was a passenger on I-75 in Dayton for a traffic violation. Morales-Medina was found to have approximately $298,000 in cash from trafficking drugs. Investigators subsequently searched a Dayton home used by Morales and others to store drugs, where they found more than eight kilograms of fentanyl, nearly one kilogram of heroin and a firearm.

Morales-Medina has been in custody since his arrest.

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