RICO INDICTMENT FILED ON SIX MEN INVOLVED IN TRAFFICKING KNOCKOFF OXYCODONE PILLS CONTAINING FENTANY

RICO INDICTMENT FILED ON SIX MEN INVOLVED IN TRAFFICKING KNOCKOFF OXYCODONE PILLS CONTAINING FENTANYL

Posted on 2/26/2020

Defendant: Roberto Defield, Joaquin A. Aguirre-Medina, Juan A. Lagunas-Quezada, Gaudencio Garcia, Juan F. Acevedo-Alvarado, Francisco J. Navarro-Montes

Prosecutor Ron O’Brien stated, “These men were found to be in possession of almost a thousand pills marked to appear to be 30 mg Oxycodone, but contained fentanyl instead.” Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced that the Franklin County Grand Jury has returned RICO indictments against the following individuals:

Roberto Defield/age 51/Columbus, OH 43223
Joaquin A. Aguirre-Medina/age 49/Columbus, OH 43223
Juan A. Lagunas-Quezada/age 19/Columbus, OH 43223
Gaudencio Garcia/age 35/Columbus, OH 43223
Juan F. Acevedo-Alvarado/age 24/Canal Winchester, OH 43110
Francisco J. Navarro-Montes/age 41/Columbus, OH 43228

The six men have each been indicted on all ten counts in the indictment including Engaging in a Pattern of Corrupt Activity, Trafficking in Fentanyl, Trafficking in Heroin, Trafficking in Cocaine, Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs, Illegal Manufacture of Drugs (all of the counts with Major Drug Offender and/or Forfeiture of Money in a Drug Case Specifications), and Receiving Proceeds of an Offense Subject to Forfeiture Proceedings. The men were under investigation beginning in February of 2019 through April 24^th, 2019 when several search warrants were executed. All six men have been held in the Franklin County Jail since April 2019, and have been indicted for many of these charges already (2019CR2084-2019CR2189). The Columbus Police Crime lab just recently completed lab analysis on the pills which contained Fentanyl. “Because of the quantity of pills, along with additional Fentanyl-containing powder, the lab was required to conduct hundreds of hours of testing to reach the amount of Fentanyl that would qualify the defendants as major drug offenders. We will continue to aggressively prosecute these traffickers so they can no longer sell these extremely dangerous drugs in Franklin County,” O’Brien stated. O’Brien commended The Ohio Organized Crime Investigation Commission (OOCIC), the Columbus Police, and The Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force (HIDTA) for their investigation of this case. “If convicted of these offenses, these men face a minimum of 14 years and a maximum of 89 years in prison,” O’Brien further stated. Arraignment of the men is scheduled for this Friday, February 28^th at 1:30 pm in courtroom 2B at 345 S. High Street in downtown Columbus.