Armando Reyes-Ascension, a 43-year-old Mexican national, has been sentenced to a term of 58 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to drug trafficking and illegal reentry into the United States, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah. Reyes-Ascension was found in possession of over 9,000 fentanyl pills, a loaded firearm, several weapons, and a significant sum of cash amounting to more than $80,000. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Reyes-Ascension has been deported from the U.S. on multiple occasions, with three previous deportations to Mexico under his belt.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups, in addition to the prison sentence, imposed a three-year supervised release and ordered Reyes-Ascension to forfeit substantial assets including over $88,000 cash, a Smith and Wesson .380 caliber pistol, ammunition, various knives and daggers, and collectors' coins, the severity of these charges reflects the accumulation of offenses including Reyes-Ascension’s 2020 conviction for felony illegal reentry. The apprehension and subsequent sentencing stem from two incidents, one in May 2024, when Reyes-Ascension was busted with 7,000 pills in his apartment, $32,000 in cash, and another one on August 7, 2024, after his re-entry, where he was caught with 2,000 additional pills and over $55,000 cash, along with the aforementioned weapons.
"Reyes-Ascension's repeated criminal conduct is a complete and total disregard for the laws of this country, and it will not be tolerated," Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti emphatically stated, as per the U.S. Department of Justice, highlighting the defendant's detrimental impact on both Utah and the nation at large. With the course of justice taking its necessary bends and turns, the law enforcement’s unyielding persistence in prosecuting Reyes-Ascension underscores a continued commitment, as Brent Beavers, the ATF Special Agent in Charge, remarked that the combination of violent narcotics distribution with firearms offenses is particularly egregious; the commitment to remove such threats from our streets, Beavers explained, is a direct response to the imminent risk posed to public safety by such criminal activity.
