Arizona is cracking down on fentanyl dealers with significant sentences being handed down, in a determined effort to combat the opioid epidemic plaguing the state. According to a press release from the Arizona Attorney General's Office, Jovanny Algandar received a 2.5-year prison sentence followed by three years of probation in Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to sell a narcotic drug, specifically fentanyl pills.
In his past assignment with these fateful pills, Algandar was also ordered to pay $4,500 to the State Anti-Racketeering Revolving Fund, his actions part of a pattern that Attorney General Kris Mayes has vowed to disrupt "Fentanyl is devastating Arizona communities, and those who attempt to profit from this deadly drug will be held accountable," Mayes said, promising rigorous prosecution for those involved in the trade, in a determined effort to dismantle the nefarious networks that deliver these potent pills to neighborhoods, "My office will continue to work tirelessly to dismantle drug trafficking organizations that ship fentanyl to our communities. Let this serve as a warning—if you deal fentanyl in Arizona, we will find you, prosecute you, and bring you to justice,” she vehemently declared, as stated by the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
Algandar's co-defendant, Lauro Garcia Salmon, faced his reckoning on December 19, 2024, with a 3.5-year prison sentence and the same financial penalty as his counterpart, enforced as part of his sentence upon conviction for attempting to sell fentanyl and illegally conducting an enterprise. These convictions stem from an investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, with Assistant Attorney General Sabrina Lochner leading the prosecution.
