LAS VEGAS
A California man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for conspiring with others to distribute hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills throughout the United States, officials stated.
According to court documents, on March 17, 2021, George Anthony Manzo, 37, of Redlands, California, sold 500 fentanyl pills to an individual.
As part of the conspiracy, Manzo primarily utilized Snapchat to arrange drug transactions and communicate with customers.
On April 2, 2021, Manzo sold approximately 2,000 fentanyl pills to his co-defendant Michel Flores-Paredes. Later, on June 29, 2021, a traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle driven by Manzo’s girlfriend, and Manzo was in the front passenger seat.
They were traveling back to Las Vegas from Phoenix, where they picked up the pills. During a search of the vehicle, investigators found approximately 30,000 pills.
A DEA laboratory analysis found that the pills contained fentanyl. Manzo and his girlfriend were released from custody while investigators waited for the drug test results on the pills found in their car.
After their release, Manzo, his girlfriend, and her three minor children fled the United States. In December 2021, Manzo was taken into custody in Tijuana, Mexico, and returned to the United States that day.
On January 2, 2024, Manzo pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance – Fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance – Fentanyl.
According to federal officials, fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced, killing 38,000 Americans in the first six months of 2023 alone.
In 2022, more than two-thirds of the reported 107,081 drug overdose deaths in the United States involved fentanyl.
Just one fentanyl pill can kill.
Two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose, and laboratory testing indicates seven out of 10 pills seized by the DEA contain a lethal dose of fentanyl, officials stated.