96-Month Sentence for Maryland Man Who Distributed Thousands of Fentanyl Pills

             WASHINGTON – Edward Steven Monge, 23, of Beltsville, Maryland, was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for participating in a fentanyl distribution conspiracy in which he sold at least 4,500 pills.

             The sentence was announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the Washington Division, Chief Marcus G. Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

             Monge pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia on January 30, 2024, to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes ordered Monge to serve four years of supervised release.

             According to the government’s evidence, between February and August 2023 Monge sold more than 4,500 pills containing fentanyl to Jennifer Echeverria Flores, 26, of Silver Spring, MD. Echeverria Flores then sold the pills to a DEA undercover agent on five separate occasions between February 17 and July 19, 2023, in the District and Maryland. The pills were blue, marked “M” on one side, and “30” on the other. The total approximate weight of the pills was 479 grams. These pills were designed to look like authentic oxycodone “M30” pills, but instead contained fentanyl. In addition to the pills Monge distributed with Flores, he distributed thousands more fentanyl pills to other re-distributors and clients during this period.

             On August 3, 2023, law enforcement arrested Monge in Hyattsville, MD, and found him carrying about 1,102 identical fentanyl pills. As part of the plea agreement, Monge also admitted that he possessed a firearm in connection with his unlawful distribution of fentanyl. Echeverria Flores pleaded guilty in December to the drug conspiracy charge. Monge’s co-conspirator Mynor Josue Fernandez Alfaro was indicted in March for his role in this conspiracy, and his case is ongoing.

             This investigation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

             This investigation additionally was an effort of Montgomery County Police under the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network (MCIN). MCIN was launched in 2017 and provides grant funding and strategic support through the Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services to MCIN member sites to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations through inter-agency collaboration and data sharing to make Maryland safer. The Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services funded this project.

             This matter was investigated by the DEA – Washington Division. Valuable assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Gaelin Bernstein of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Henek, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses section. Valuable assistance was provided by former Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jordan Leiter and Javier Urbina.

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