A young Texas man has been slapped with a hefty prison sentence for his role in a drug trafficking operation. Alex Dominque Carrillo, a 21-year-old from Pharr, will spend the next eight years behind bars for transporting a deadly cache of fentanyl pills, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced Tuesday.
Carrillo had pleaded guilty last December to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. His conviction came about as part of a broader clampdown on a drug epidemic that has ravaged communities across the nation. "Just one pill can kill," Hamdani said, pointing a finger at the irreverence of Mexican drug traffickers for the lives shattered by the opioid crisis. The announcement was made, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The investigation, spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Administration, uncovered Carrillo's involvement as a courier ferrying narcotics on behalf of an unnamed Mexican trafficker. It was determined Carrillo would pick up drugs already smuggled into the U.S. and deliver them to buyers on the domestic front.
Last June, the lawmen seized 500 fentanyl pills in Pharr, which had been transported by Carrillo. Two months later, an observant Carrillo tried to ditch 3,500 more of the lethal pills into a public trash can in a McAllen parking lot as he noticed law enforcement closing in – but to no avail. Authorities apprehended him and retrieved the fentanyl, which is known for its potency and danger even in miniscule doses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Garcia was the prosecutor on the case.
Facing serious time, Carrillo has been ordered to also serve four years of supervised release once he's out of prison. For now, he remains in custody, waiting transfer to a federal penitentiary where he will serve his sentence for his role in this deadly drug distribution network.
