A federal judge in Tampa sentenced two men Friday for running a fentanyl distribution operation that stretched from Georgia to the Tampa Bay area, with one of them coordinating the drug buys while he was locked up in a Florida state prison. U.S. District Judge John L. Badalamenti handed 41-year-old Edilberto Mojica of Polk County 24 years and 4 months in federal prison, while 42-year-old Leundro Childs of Tampa received 19 years and 7 months, after both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, Mojica set the whole scheme in motion from inside a Florida Department of Corrections facility, directing Childs and another co-conspirator to travel to Georgia to buy large quantities of fentanyl for distribution back in Florida. Court filings released Friday describe an operation that kept running even after one of its leaders was already behind bars.
Custody Didn't Stop the Network
Federal prosecutors say Childs kept the pipeline moving even after he was arrested on separate state drug charges, continuing to direct the distribution network from custody. That ongoing activity ultimately led investigators to an undercover operation that recovered more than 1,500 grams of fentanyl, drug packaging materials, two firearms, and a HiPoint rifle that was later forfeited, per the Justice Department's account.
The case was investigated jointly by the FBI's Tampa Field Office and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael A. Peterson and Candace Garcia Rich. The original announcement, posted to social media by the USAO Middle Florida account, tagged both @FBITampa and @HCSOSheriff in crediting the agencies with dismantling the ring.
A Pattern of Prison-Run Drug Rings in the Region
This is not an isolated case for the Middle District of Florida. Just months earlier, on April 16, prosecutors announced that 32-year-old inmate Omar Idonis Graciani Rodriguez received a life sentence in federal prison for using contraband cellphones to run a major fentanyl and methamphetamine network from behind bars. And back in March 2022, drug leader Marvin Harris Jr. was sentenced to more than 24 years for directing a Fort Myers fentanyl network over recorded jail phone calls while he was incarcerated on contempt charges.
Under federal sentencing law, 21 U.S.C. § 841, a conviction involving 400 grams or more of a fentanyl mixture carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and can reach life imprisonment, a threshold detailed by the law firm TPA Trial Attorneys. Under federal conspiracy law, the entire aggregate drug weight involved in the scheme applies to all co-conspirators, not just the person who physically handled the drugs.
Part of a Broader Tampa Crackdown
Friday's sentencing was one of several major fentanyl cases the Middle District of Florida announced the same day. Prosecutors also revealed that Javontez Daniels of Tampa was sentenced to more than 30 years for conspiracy to distribute over 400 grams of fentanyl, underscoring how aggressively federal authorities are targeting the region's fentanyl supply chain.
That enforcement push has been building for months. Hoodline previously reported on a Tampa fentanyl pipeline case in which federal prosecutors unsealed indictments against six people, including one defendant already housed at Federal Correctional Institution Coleman. And in August, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office detailed its Opioid Overdose Investigations Section and its collaboration with prosecutors as part of an aggressive local strategy against fentanyl suppliers.
Open questions remain about exactly how Mojica and Childs managed to keep real-time control over the operation while incarcerated, and whether additional co-conspirators tied to the Georgia drug buys will face separate state or federal charges. Federal court filings released Friday do not specify what security gaps or contraband access made the continued communication possible.
