A 22-year-old man from Yuba City, Sukhmanpreet Singh Jawanda, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for distributing fentanyl and illegally trading firearms. U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta issued the sentence on August 1, as announced by U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and confirmed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Jawanda's illegal activities came to light following an investigation that led to a transaction involving over 30,000 fentanyl pills and the sale of at least six firearms to an undercover agent. While on Interstate 5 in March 2022, after having sold fentanyl, law enforcement recovered a kilo of cocaine and a firearm during a traffic stop of Jawanda.

This case was brought to a conclusion thanks to coordinated efforts by agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, alongside local California Highway Patrol and the NET-5 Task Force, aimed at dismantling operations like Jawanda's. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alstyn Bennett was pivotal in the prosecution of this case, endeavoring to uphold the statutes and safety of the community.

Jawanda's sentence is also a piece of a larger initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aims to synergize law enforcement at all levels with the communities they protect to curb violent crime and reduce gun violence. On May 26, 2021, launched by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Neighborhoods's violent crime reduction strategy is bolstering efforts that are strategically focused and measure results to ensure the safety of neighborhoods nationwide. "Fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place," is part of the initiative's core principles, according to an earlier statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office.