U.S. Court of Appeals Affirms Federal Prison Sentence of More than Thirty Years for El Salvador Man Convicted of Possession and Conspiracy to Distribute Sixteen Pounds of Fentanyl

SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a federal prison sentence of more than thirty years issued by U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann to an El Salvador man following his conviction by a federal jury in Aberdeen, South Dakota, for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance. The sentencing took place at the federal courthouse in Aberdeen on September 15, 2025. The appeal was argued at the federal courthouse in St. Paul, Minnesota on March 19, 2026. The Eighth Circuit issued its opinion and judgment affirming the sentence on May 7, 2026.

Edwin Giovanni Salinas, 47, an illegal alien from El Salvador who was living in Los Angeles, California, was sentenced to serve 365 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Salinas left California with a backpack he used to transport approximately three pounds of pure China and Mexican cartel-sourced fentanyl powder and nearly 50,000 fentanyl pills laced with horse tranquilizer. One of the bags of fentanyl seized from Salinas was marked with the word "CHINA." The pills were manufactured to look like prescription oxycodone pills. In all, Salinas was seeking to distribute approximately sixteen pounds of fentanyl, presumably to communities across the Midwest. The immediate destination for the drugs was believed to be a designated meeting spot at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The approximate street value of the drugs was estimated at $2,000,000.

Salinas was traveling with the illegal drugs in a speeding car with California plates at four in the morning near the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, with an individual he recruited to drive. The vehicle was stopped and the contraband found and seized by a deputy with the Roberts County Sheriff's Department and a police officer with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe. Salinas was convicted on both felony counts following a five-day jury trial.

At sentencing, the district court made factual findings, credited on appeal, that Salinas "had enough fentanyl to kill 500,000 people" and that this was one of "the biggest drug bust[s] in the history of South Dakota." The appellate court also affirmed a sentencing enhancement imposed by the district court for threatening his co-defendant and placing her in fear when they were in U.S. Marshals custody and traveling to federal court.

"Case closed," said U.S. Attorney Parsons. "The incredible vigilance and professionalism demonstrated by these on-duty law enforcement officers with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Police and Roberts County Sheriff's Office unquestionably saved lives."

This case was investigated by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribal Police, the Roberts County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Division of Drug Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy R. Jehangiri and Paige Petersen prosecuted the case. Following sentencing, Salinas was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service before being transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. The Mexican drug cartels responsible for the fentanyl smuggled into the United States-primarily the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel-operate global criminal enterprises and rely on a global supply chain, with most fentanyl and its chemical precursors originating from China. In 2025, DEA seized more than 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, equivalent to more than 369 million lethal doses of fentanyl.