Sentences were handed down to two men involved in what officials call the largest drug seizure by Delaware federal law enforcement in recent memory.
A judge sentenced 57-year-old Julian Rivera-Villa Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison. His 41-year-old co-defendant, Ricardo Perez-Guillen a more than seven-year sentence back in April.
According to court documents, the two men from Gloucester City, New Jersey conspired to distribute 10 kilograms of heroin and approximately 14,000 fentanyl-laced fake Oxycodone pills
The two were arrested separately back in 2019—Rivera-Villa in New Castle, Delaware and Perez-Guillen in Gloucester City.
According to law enforcement officials, the two sold a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) source fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills at a Royal Farms in New Castle County in 2019. Officials say the two are Mexican nationals in the U.S. illegally.
Officials estimate the street value of the seized drugs both in New Castle and Gloucester City to be in excess of $1 million—including a conservative estimate of 1.4 million doses of heroin and three kilograms of cocaine.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss said in a statement his office is “committed to combating the opioid epidemic” adding it will “continue to seek significant federal prison terms against those profiting off the addictions of others.”
A study from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Philadelphia Field Division found the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl made up more than 16 percent of all illicit opioids seized in Delaware in 2018.
