March 11, 2022 - FRESNO, Calif. — Uriel Ivan Portillo, 35, of Sinaloa, Mexico, was sentenced today to three years and four months in prison for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on Nov. 21, 2019, Portillo distributed 5,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl in exchange for $40,000 during a controlled purchase in Bakersfield.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, and the Bakersfield Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar is prosecuting the case.

Portillo’s co-defendant, Wilfredo Medina Perez, also pleaded guilty to the same and additional drug transactions. He is scheduled for sentencing on March 18, 2022, before U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. Medina faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Source: DOJ Release  Photo credit: DEA file photo