Emilio Hernandez Yesca, a 31-year-old from Madera, was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation involving fentanyl and methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston issued the sentence, following an investigation into a trafficking organization where Yesca and Jorge Perez were key participants, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A months-long investigation found that between October 2020 and March 2021, two individuals distributed thousands of fentanyl pills and several pounds of methamphetamine. In October and November 2020, they sold a total of 1,400 fentanyl pills. In February 2021, they sold a pound of methamphetamine. In March 2021, law enforcement intercepted them with 5,000 fentanyl pills, 3 pounds of methamphetamine, and a loaded firearm under the driver’s seat of their vehicle, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Jorge Perez, a 28-year-old co-defendant from Madera, was sentenced on January 27 to nearly 12 years in prison following a joint investigation involving Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and local law enforcement. The case was part of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces program and Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge, a national effort launched in July 2018 to reduce the supply of synthetic opioids and dismantle distribution networks, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
