Violent Drug Trafficker Sentenced to 27+ Years in Prison

A drug trafficker arrested following a disturbing domestic violence altercation was sentenced Thursday to more than 27 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Carlos Carrasquillo, 21, was charged via criminal complaint in April and indicted the following month. He pleaded guilty in December 2022 to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Ada Brown to 327 months behind bars.

According to court documents, in February 2022, law enforcement was tipped off that Mr. Carrasquillo was advertising the sale of narcotics, firearms, and firearm conversion devices, including Glock switches, via Instagram.

Two months later, on April 16, officers were summoned to a Grand Prairie Gas Station to respond to a domestic dispute between Mr. Carrasquillo and his girlfriend.

When an officer attempted to speak to Mr. Carrasquillo, he fled the scene, dropping a black bag containing more than 1,000 grams of fentanyl and 600 grams of cocaine.  

Severely injured, his girlfriend was transported to the hospital. She told officers that Mr. Carrasquillo broke into her apartment, physically assaulted her, and stuffed her into the trunk of her own vehicle. He crashed the car near the Trinity River, pulled her from the trunk, and forced her towards a wooded area, punching, kicking, and stabbing her with a knife en route.

He was arrested ten days later at his apartment, where he attempted to break out of the officer’s grip.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors introduced evidence showing that Mr. Carrasquillo attempted to obstruct the investigation into both his drug and firearms dealing and into the assault of his girlfriend. In his first call from jail, he instructed his sister to delete content from his Instagram account and to reach out to his girlfriend to dissuade her from participating in the prosecution.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ Dallas Field Division, the Dallas Police Department, and the Grand Prairie Police Department, conducted the investigation with the help of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Briggs prosecuted the case.