CARROLLTON, Texas — Federal prison sentences totaling 35 years have been handed down in a drug conspiracy case linked to the deaths of three teenagers in North Texas. The case involves at least 12 juvenile overdoses, including three fatal ones, in Carrollton and Flower Mound.
The investigation, which WFAA has been covering since March 2023, has so far resulted in seven people being connected to the case. In June of last year, 23-year-olds Jason Xavier Villanueva and Rafael Soliz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl to minors. In July 2023, 20-year-old Roberta Alexander Gaitan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a large quantity of fentanyl.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade sentenced Villanueva to 15 years, Gaitan to 5 years, and Soliz to 15 years in federal prison.
According to the indictment, multiple individuals conspired to traffic counterfeit opioid pills laced with fentanyl to young teens, often through juvenile dealers. The victims, aged 13 to 17, suffered overdose deaths that were often facilitated by the drugs being advertised on social media.
DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge, Eduardo A. Chávez, commented, “I was at today’s sentencing and heard statements from both the defendant’s and the victim’s family and friends. Nobody won today. This is what drug trafficking and abuse does. Lives have been destroyed and tragically some we will never get back.”
In court documents, Villanueva admitted to distributing over 200,000 fentanyl pills in North Texas over a period of five or six months. The pills, marked M-30, were sold to a network of juvenile and adult dealers, contributing to the widespread distribution of the deadly substance.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation, with the assistance of School Resource Officers from the Carrollton–Farmer’s Branch Independent School District and the Lewisville Independent School District. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rick Calvert and Phelesa Guy are prosecuting the case.
The members charged in the conspiracy are tied to at least 12 juvenile overdoses – three of them fatal – in Carrollton and Flower Mound. The victim’s ages span from 13 to 17, and the drugs were often advertised via social media, officials said.