Guatemalan Man Sentenced to Over Four Years in Prison for Fentanyl Trafficking

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jairo Leonidas Raymundo-Cua, 33, of Guatemala, was sentenced today to four years and three months in prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on multiple occasions in February 2022, Raymundo-Cua distributed powder fentanyl and counterfeit oxycodone M-30 pills containing fentanyl to an undercover officer on behalf of the leader of the conspiracy, Carlos Calel. When law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Raymundo-Cua’s Sacramento residence in March 2022, they found over 20,000 M-30 pills containing fentanyl and over a kilogram of fentanyl-laced heroin in Raymundo-Cua’s backpack, along with a fraudulent green card in Raymundo-Cua’s name.

This case was the product of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney David W. Spencer prosecuted the case.

Carlos Calel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl on Oct. 27, 2022.  Calel is scheduled to be sentenced on May 11, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley. Calel faces a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.