ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Carlos Moctezuma Sandoval Romero, 26, was sentenced today to 11 years and three months in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Sandoval Romero is the final defendant to be sentenced in a conspiracy investigated by the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) Washington, D.C.

According to court documents, beginning at least in November 2022, the conspirators obtained thousands of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and distributed the pills in Virginia and elsewhere. Sandoval Romero sent the pills from California through the mail to co-conspirators in Virginia and Maryland. Co-conspirators Jonathan Ordoñez, 20, and Amir Jose Villalta, 24, paid Sandoval Romero, and Ordoñez collected money from co-conspirators.

Some of the conspirators possessed firearms in relation to their drug trafficking, and some of the conspirators were arrested while in possession of both firearms and fentanyl pills. Two of the conspirators, Haydee Giselle Barrera Serrano, 23, and Olivia Jade Bush, 24, straw purchased firearms for Ordoñez.

• Ordoñez pled guilty on Oct. 18, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. On Feb. 20, 2025, he was sentenced to 16 years and three months in prison.

• Villalta pled guilty on Oct. 30, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. On Feb. 27, 2025, he was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison.

• Jose Eduardo Funes, 22, pled guilty on March 25, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. On July 10, 2025, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

• Younis Fakhrudin Abdulkadir, 20, pled guilty on March 19, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. On Aug. 21, 2025, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

• Raul Ernesto Bermudez, 21, pled guilty on June 18, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. On Oct. 2, 2025, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

• Steven Giovanny Santos-Bonilla, 21, pled guilty on Sept. 3, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. On Dec. 18, 2025, he was sentenced to 16 years and three months in prison.

• Erik Venancio Turcios Benavides, 24, pled guilty on Oct. 28, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. On Feb. 19, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

• Barrera Serrano pled guilty on Oct. 21, 2025, to making false statements to a firearms licensee. On May 18, she was sentenced to one weekend in prison and three years of probation.

• Bush pled guilty on Nov. 18, 2025, to making false statements to a firearms licensee. On March 27, she was sentenced to three years of probation.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Washington Division, FBI Washington Field Office, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Washington Division investigated this case with assistance from the Fairfax County Police Department, Arlington County Police Department, and Torrance (California) Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Catherine Rosenberg, James L. Trump, and Annie Zanobini prosecuted the case.

This case is part of the HSTF initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Washington, D.C., comprises agents and officers from the FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Transportation Security Administration Federal Air Marshals Service; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Enforcement and Removal Operations; and Washington Baltimore HIDTA, with the prosecution being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.