Two Mexican drug smugglers who worked in the Portland area to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine were given federal prison terms of more than ten years each on Thursday, May 25. Gresham’s Rodrigo Diaz-Lopez, 53, and Portlander Jonathan Avila-Suarez, 31, were each given federal prison terms of 135 and 120 months.
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On Thursday, two drug traffickers were sentenced to more than ten years in federal prison for their roles in a Mexican drug cartel distributing fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine in and around Portland. https://t.co/Yi1iZLAS7s
β FOX 12 Oregon (@fox12oregon) May 26, 2023
The Justice Department has mandated that both men serve five years of supervised release following their prison terms. Diaz-Lopez and Avila-Suarez, as evidenced by court documents, were members of a drug trafficking group in Nayarit, Mexico,Β that the two brothers headed.
Diaz-Lopez worked as a sub-distributor in the DTO, acquiring illegal narcotics from couriers and other distributors and brokering local sales despite having three prior felony convictions for drug trafficking and being deported from the United States due to those crimes. Avila-Suarez ran a stash house and served as a sub-distributor.
DEA special agents learned that Avila-Suarez had arranged to deliver 400 grams of heroin to a Portland hotel room in early February 2021 as part of a more extensive investigation into the DTO’s activities. Agents intercepted Avila-Suarez’s delivery to a customer and took the customer’s stash of heroin.
Large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl in distribution packaging, as well as two weapons, were discovered and seized the following day when authorities executed a federal search warrant at Avila-Suarez’s Portland apartment.
A controlled purchase of methamphetamine from Diaz-Lopez was organized around the same time. Several kilograms of methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl-laced counterfeit Oxycodone tablets were confiscated after authorities executed a federal search warrant at Diaz-Lopez’s Gresham home on March 12, 2021.
Agents also found and confiscated a handgun and an assault rifle totaling $30,000. On February 21, 2021, a criminal complaint was filed against Avila-Suarez, accusing him of drug trafficking violations, including possession with intent to distribute, communication facilities use, and keeping drug-connected premises.
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According to a criminal complaint, Diaz-Lopez was charged with possession with intent to distribute drugs on March 15, 2021. The two guys were subsequently indicted on similar allegations. Avila-Suarez pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on January 25, 2023.
On February 21, 2023, a month later, Diaz-Lopez pled guilty to heroin distribution. The DEA looked into these incidents. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon handled the prosecution.
