Mexican citizen living in Elkhart gets over 19 years for fentanyl distribution

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- According to the United States Justice Department, 50-year-old Guadalupe Reyes, Jr. was sentenced to 235 months in prison after pleading guilty to distribution of 400 grams of fentanyl on Thursday afternoon.

According to documents in the case, on three occasions between August and October 2022, Reyes oversaw the shipment of more than 3,000 fentanyl pills through the U.S. mail from the Northern District of Indiana to a buyer in Texas.

Authorities say Reyes also participated in phone calls with the buyer to negotiate the amount and price of the pills, and then recruited and compensated co-defendant, Jerry Edwards, to mail the pills from various locations within the Northern District of Indiana.

Reyes was arrested in November 2022, after arranging a person-to-person sale of 10,000 fentanyl pills. In total, Reyes distributed over 1,400 grams of fentanyl.

“This case demonstrates that drug traffickers will use every available means - including the U.S. mail – to distribute their illegal product throughout the country,” said United States Attorney Clifford Johnson. “These coordinated efforts are particularly important when fentanyl, a substance that is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, is being trafficked.”

Reyes' sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release.

“Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing our country. Often found in fake pills, illicit fentanyl was responsible for almost 70% of the nearly 111,000 fatal drug overdoses and poisonings in our country last year. One fake pill containing 2 milligrams of illicit fentanyl is enough to kill,” said Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alfred Cooke.

According to the Justice Department, Reyes is a Mexican citizen living in Elkhart.