Source: US FBI
MIAMI – Three South Florida residents have been sentenced to federal prison for distributing methamphetamine, fentanyl and nitazenes, after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring to distribute fentanyl and N-Pyrrolidino Protonitazene.
On July 30, Josue David Balaguer, 35, of Hollywood, Florida, was sentenced to 141 months in federal prison. On July 31, Marcos Geovanny Beltre Olivo, 39, of Hollywood, Florida, was sentenced to 141 months in federal prison. And on August 1, 2025, Joel Medina, 36, of Hollywood, Florida, was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison.
Beginning in early 2024, the defendants conspired amongst themselves and with others to distribute pressed pills through the mail for on-line, open web and dark web, drug distributors. The pills were distributed throughout the United States. The pressed pills were marketed as pharmaceuticals, but contained nitazenes, fentanyl, and methamphetamine, among other controlled substances. On September 11, 2024, agents executed a residential search warrant and recovered hundreds of thousands of pressed pills, a pill press, a packaging machine, and numerous mailing supplies.
U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division, Acting Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami, Acting Inspector in Charge Bladismir Rojo of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Miami Division, Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Ulrich, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG), Acting Special Agent in Charge Maximillian Pagano of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI), Miami Field Office, and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.
FBI Miami, DEA Miami, HSI Miami, USPIS Miami, USPS-OIG, FDA-OCI, and PBSO investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Funk prosecuted the case.
According to the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment, nitazenes are synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, but some nitazenes can match or surpass the potency of fentanyl. Different nitazenes have been appearing in fentanyl mixtures in the United States since 2019. When combined with fentanyl, the effects of both drugs are heightened, which significantly increases the chance of a fatal drug poisoning.
Synthetic drugs such as fentanyl are poisoning the nation. Fentanyl has proven to be a deadly poison that does not discriminate. Its victims include every gender, race, age, and economic background, and its debilitating effects are the same across all demographics. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Even in small doses, fentanyl can be deadly. Just one fentanyl pill can kill, as noted in DEA’s One Pill Can Kill campaign. As little as two milligrams, about the size of 5 grains of salt, can be fatal. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths. Over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. The State of Florida has also seen an exponential increase in overdoses associated with fentanyl. In 2022, more than 5,622 people died from overdoses involving fentanyl and fentanyl analogs in Florida.
For more information visit: https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MEC/Publications-and-Forms/Documents/Drugs-in-Deceased-Persons/2022-Annual-Drug-Report-FINAL-(1).aspx; https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/fentanyl.html#; and https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/fentanyl.
You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-cr-80112.
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