November 13, 2024 - WASHINGTON – Paul Alejandro Felix, 25, of Glendale, California, was sentenced yesterday to 164 months in prison for participating in a wide-spread narcotics trafficking conspiracy that distributed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills purchased in Southern California to destinations throughout the United States, including the District of Columbia. Felix was one of approximately 24 co-defendants arrested and charged over the course of 2023 in D.C., Virginia, Maryland, San Diego, and Los Angeles and charged in the conspiracy.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the DEA Washington Division, Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Washington Division, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Felix pleaded guilty on July 1, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. In addition to the 164-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Felix to serve five years of supervised release.
According to court documents, Felix served as an upstream Los Angeles-based supplier of fentanyl-laced pills to other Los Angeles-based fentanyl traffickers, including a bulk supplier of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to D.C.-based fentanyl traffickers. Felix sold pills by the thousands, often at prices below a dollar per pill. Communications evidence, as well as physical seizures, indicate that Felix participated in the transfer of tens of thousands of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to downstream traffickers.
On November 16, 2023, law enforcement arrested Felix at his residence in Glendale, California. During a search of the home, officers recovered a Sig Sauer 9mm semi-automatic handgun with a magazine containing seven rounds of ammunition, as well as dozens of rounds of ammunition of various calibers and firearm magazines in various calibers. Felix admitted that he possessed the weapon and stated that he kept the firearm for protection. During the investigation, law enforcement obtained numerous photos of firearms, as well as bulk cash, from Felix’s Instagram account.
The prosecutions followed a joint investigation by the DEA Washington Division and the USPIS Washington Division in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), with additional support from the DEA Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside Field Offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office, and the Charles County, Maryland Sheriff’s Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Central and Southern Districts of California, the Eastern District of Virginia, and the District of Maryland.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. Kinskey, Solomon S. Eppel, and Iris McCranie, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses (VRTO) Section.
Source: DOJ Release
