Houston woman convicted of fentanyl trafficking in Texas

A 49-year-old Houston woman, Monica Mata Vasquez, has been sentenced to 136 months in federal prison for conspiring to import fentanyl. U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana handed down the sentence on August 25, 2023, following a two-day trial.

Vasquez was found guilty of engaging in a conspiracy to import fentanyl after a federal jury deliberated for less than an hour. The jury saw text messages from Vasquez’s phone which showed she had been coordinating ‘trips’ with co-conspirators to and from Monterrey, Mexico, into the United States as far back as July 2022.

The evidence showed Vasquez had driven to locations such as Alabama and had conversations about the purchase and installation of car batteries. Further testimony indicated these messages showed Vasquez was part of an agreement to import and traffic narcotics.

Vasquez has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

HSI conducted the investigation with the assistance of Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie Cortez and Brian Bajew prosecuted the case.

According to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani, ‘It takes only a tiny amount of fentanyl to kill a loved one. Vasquez brought in 4.6 kilos of that dangerous drug from Mexico–enough to kill approximately 2 million people.’

Vasquez will serve her prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release. The case highlights the dangers of fentanyl, a poison that is harming many communities and families across the country.

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