CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WCNC) — A 24-year-old Mexican national with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to trafficking fentanyl and cocaine.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina said Omar Antonio Jaramillo-Meza brought more than 130,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills into the United States.
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Federal investigators began investigating the case after a DEA confidential source was introduced to a man known as "El Moro," who was later identified as Jaramillo-Meza. The source bought pills marked "M-30" from him several times.
In April 2022, law enforcement seized 3,000 pills sent by Jaramillo-Meza. Investigators seized another 80,000 pills in February 2023 and 20,000 fentanyl pills in June 2023.
Jaramillo-Meza pleaded guilty in September 2023 to two federal counts involving the distribution of fentanyl and cocaine. He remains in federal custody and will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
After serving his sentence, he will be deported, prosecutors said.