Fentanyl Trafficker Who Distributed Lethally Potent Doses in the District and Maryland Sentenced to 63 Months in Federal Prison

            WASHINGTON – Mynor Josue Fernandez Alfaro, 24, of Dundalk, Maryland, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 63 months in federal prison for participating in a drug trafficking scheme that distributed thousands of doses of lethally potent fentanyl in Washington D.C. and Maryland.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the Washington Division, Chief Marcus G. Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Fernandez Alfaro, aka “Mino,” pleaded guilty on June 21, 2024, to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. In addition to the 63-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes ordered Fernandez Alfaro to serve four years of supervised release.

            According to court papers, Fernandez admitted that, along with co-defendant Edward Steven Monge, 23, of Beltsville, Maryland, he supplied co-conspirator Jennifer Echeverria Flores with more than 4,500 blue pills that contained varying concentrations fentanyl. Echeverria Flores then sold the pills to an undercover law enforcement officer (UC) in five transactions between February and July 2023 in Washington, DC and Maryland. More than half of those pills contained more than what DEA estimates is a lethal concentration of fentanyl, 2 milligrams per pill.

            As part of his guilty plea, Fernandez Alfaro admitted that he distributed fentanyl to other redistributors and clients besides Echeverria Flores. Social media posts indicate that Fernandez Alfaro was involved in a lucrative distribution scheme as early as October 2022. Monge advertised the drugs for sale on his social media, while Fernandez Alfaro provided the drugs to customers and coordinated payment through his own CashApp account. Between July 2022 and July 2023, the pair netted more than $150,000 in incoming Cash App transactions, while not otherwise legitimately employed.

            Despite this large volume of digital payments, evidence suggests that Fernandez Alfaro and Monge primarily accepted payment for these pills in cash. Fernandez Alfaro’s Instagram account and cell phone contained dozens of photographs of him with significant amounts of cash, boasting of the scheme’s success.