Top Source of Supply in Juvenile Fentanyl Case Pleads Guilty

A top source of supply in the Carrollton juvenile fentanyl case – which has resulted in at least 14 juvenile overdoses, four of them fatal – pleaded guilty today to a federal drug crime, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Julio Gonzales, Jr., 18, was charged via criminal complaint in July 2023 with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and was indicted in August 2023. He pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez.

According to plea papers, Mr. Gonzales admitted to receiving and selling approximately 120,000 counterfeit M30 pills containing fentanyl to multiple customers including codefendants and at least one juvenile M30 dealer. Mr. Gonzales sold M30 pills individually and also sold customers “K Packs” which consisted of 1,000 pills at a time.

According to court documents, in February 2023, a 16-year-old dealer who delivered the fentanyl pills that killed a 14-year-old girl in December 2022 allegedly identified Mr. Gonzales, whom he called “J-Money,” as his supplier.  In text messages, the child discussed “J-Money” with codefendant Luis Eduardo Navarrete, one of the first dealers charged in the scheme. They identified “J-Money” as their “plug,” street parlance for a source of supply.

During a search of the residence used to store and sometimes distribute illegal drugs including counterfeit M30 pills, DEA agents found thousands of fentanyl-laced M-30 pills stuffed in the microwave, a partial kilogram of cocaine tucked in a plastic food storage container, bulk U.S. currency hidden in the closet, and numerous firearms, including a pistol equipped with an illegal Glock switch, littered throughout the home.

Mr. Gonzales is the eighth defendant charged in the wake of the Carrollton / Flower Mound juvenile overdose investigation to enter a guilty plea. Jason Xavier Villanueva, Magaly Cano, Robert Alexander Gaitan, Rafael Soliz, Jr., Adrian Martinez-Leon, Donovan Jude Andrews and Stephen Paul Brinson pleaded guilty earlier this year; Luis Eduardo Navarrete has been charged but not yet convicted. (All are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)

Mr. Gonzales now faces up to 40 years in federal prison.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office, the Dallas Police Department’s SWAT team, and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rick Calvert and Phelesa Guy are prosecuting the case.