Source: Office of United States Attorneys
LOS ANGELES – A Bell man was sentenced today to 188 months in federal prison for distributing narcotics, including more than 19,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl.
Juan Luis Martinez, 48, was sentenced by United States District Judge Mark C. Scarsi.
At the conclusion of a two-day trial, a jury on July 24 found Martinez guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of distribution of fentanyl, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine.
Martinez in October 2021 met with two women in a parking lot and gave them a plastic bag containing more than 19,000 fentanyl-laced pills, stuffed into a woman’s bra. Law enforcement officers followed the two women as they delivered the bag to three men. Officers then pulled over the car driven by the three men and seized the pills.
In addition, in December 2021, Martinez knowingly sold more than 300 grams of methamphetamine to a buyer.
Martinez has been in federal custody since January 2023.
The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this matter, with assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Hawthorne Police Department, the Orange Police Department, and the Placentia Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Caitlin J. Campbell and Melissa S. Rabbani of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case.