Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Gilbert Ramirez, 27, of Sacramento was sentenced Thursday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Troy L. Nunley to 16 years and three months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute, and possessing with intent to distribute, fentanyl and methamphetamine; distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine; and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.
According to court documents, from April through July 2022, Ramirez and his co-defendant, Michael Valentino Lovato, 36, of Sacramento, sold large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl in Sacramento County.
On Oct. 24, 2024, Lovato was sentenced 19 years and 10 months in prison.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Sacramento Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin F. Scott prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
This prosecution is also part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. The Sacramento Strike Force is a co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. The specific mission of the Sacramento Strike Force is to identify, investigate, disrupt, and dismantle the most significant drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) shipping narcotics, firearms, and money through the Eastern District of California, thereby reducing the flow of these criminal resources in California and the rest of the United States. The Sacramento Strike Force leads intelligence-driven investigations targeting the leadership and support elements of these DTOs and TCOs operating within the Eastern District of California, regardless of their geographic base of operations.