Mexican National Arrested for Allegedly Selling a Kilogram of Fentanyl to Undercover Law Enforcement Agent in Chicago

CHICAGO — A Mexican national has been arrested for allegedly selling a kilogram of fentanyl to an undercover law enforcement agent near Midway Airport in Chicago.

JAVIER GONZALEZ-LOZA, 40, sold the fentanyl for $40,000 during a February 2018 meeting in an alley in the 5600 block of South Kilbourn Avenue in Chicago, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court.  Unbeknownst to Gonzalez-Loza, the purported buyer was an undercover law enforcement agent, the complaint states.

The complaint charges Gonzalez-Loza with one count of distribution of a controlled substance.  Gonzalez-Loza made an initial court appearance Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel G. Martin, who ordered him to remain in federal custody.  A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 27, 2018, at 2:00 p.m.

Gonzalez-Loza had been deported to Mexico from the United States in 2013 after a prior criminal conviction, but was residing in Chicago at the time of the alleged drug deal, according to the complaint.

The arrest and complaint were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and James M. Gibbons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Fluhr.

According to the complaint, a confidential source cooperating with law enforcement notified authorities about Gonzalez-Loza’s alleged drug dealing.  An undercover agent began communicating with Gonzalez-Loza, and some of their conversations were surreptitiously recorded.

In January 2018, Gonzalez-Loza provided the undercover officer with “sample” quantities of heroin and fentanyl, the complaint states.  The meetings at which Gonzalez-Loza supplied these samples occurred in a grocery store parking lot near West 59th Street and South Pulaski Road in Chicago, the complaint states.  After those meetings, the undercover agent and Gonzalez-Loza arranged for the larger deal the following month, at which Gonzalez-Loza distributed approximately 998.7 grams of fentanyl, as stated in the complaint.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

The drug distribution charge is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.