Federal prosecutors have stepped into a major Ventura County narcotics case, taking over the prosecution of four North Hollywood men who were at the center of a sprawling drug trafficking probe. A federal grand jury handed up an indictment earlier this month that hits the quartet with 17 federal counts, and Ventura County prosecutors have now dismissed their own case so the U.S. Attorney’s Office can run the show. If the men are convicted on the federal charges, each faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison.
In a news release posted to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Facebook page, local prosecutors said the U.S. Attorney’s Office secured the federal grand jury indictment on June 12. The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office then dismissed the state case on June 15 so federal prosecutors could proceed. The office noted that the indictment contains 17 counts and that federal authorities will now handle the case from here.
What investigators say they found
The four defendants, identified as Jorge Humberto Valdivia (DOB 05/30/1999), Angel Omar Azpeitia Garcia (DOB 01/17/1995), Jorge Arturo Marquez Chavez (DOB 05/13/1998), and Victor Manuel Otero Correa (DOB 12/11/2002), were first arrested in August 2025 after what officials described as a months long, multi agency probe. Investigators executed coordinated search warrants and reported seizing what they called staggering quantities of drugs: roughly 23.98 pounds of fentanyl, 18.75 pounds of methamphetamine, 4.5 pounds of heroin, about 1 pound of cocaine, along with packaging materials and more than $129,000 in cash, an amount that coverage described a $1.4 million seizure.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Audry Nafziger, who is assigned to the DA’s Major Crimes Narcotics Unit and is prosecuting the matter, framed the bust as a serious threat to residents. “The amount of narcotics recovered in this case was staggering and posed a significant threat to public safety throughout Ventura County,” she said, according to the district attorney’s office.
Federal penalties and how they apply
Federal drug laws are not subtle when it comes to quantities. Mandatory minimum sentences kick in based on drug type and weight. For example, federal guidance sets a 10 year mandatory minimum for offenses involving at least 400 grams of fentanyl, with similar threshold schemes for other controlled substances. Those benchmarks and sentencing rules are detailed by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which explain how large scale drug seizures can translate into lengthy federal prison terms.
What’s next in the case
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office did not list a federal arraignment date in its announcement. The case will move forward in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and future filings and hearings will appear on the federal docket. Local law enforcement and county prosecutors say they plan to keep coordinating with federal partners as the prosecution continues.
Officials have pointed to the case as one snapshot of the fentanyl trafficking problem they say is driving fatal overdoses in Ventura County. The Ventura County Medical Examiner reported 200 overdose deaths in 2024, with fentanyl found in 113 of those cases, according to the district attorney’s office. The decision to shift this case into the federal system reflects both the multi county reach of the alleged operation and the additional resources that federal agencies bring to targeting large trafficking networks.
