Trafficker Who Smuggled Fentanyl From Southern California to DC Sentenced to 108 Months

            WASHINGTON – Trayveon James Johnson, 20, of Alexandria, Va., was sentenced today to 108 months in prison for participating in a wide-spread narcotics trafficking conspiracy that distributed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills purchased in Southern California to destinations throughout the United States, including the District of Columbia. Johnson was one of 24 co-defendants arrested over the course of 2023 in D.C., Virginia, Maryland, San Diego, and Los Angeles and charged in the conspiracy.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the DEA Washington Division, Inspector in Charge Damon Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Washington Division, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Johnson, aka “Treyski,” pleaded guilty on April 19, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. In addition to the 108-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Johnson to serve five years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, Johnson’s role in the conspiracy was to travel to Southern California where he purchased fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to bring them back to the District of Columbia. Johnson and his co-conspirators smuggled the pills concealed in luggage and/or personal carry-on items, or alternatively, used commercial mail carriers to ship them to the District. Johnson then conspired with his D.C.-based co-conspirators to redistribute the drugs.

            The impetus for the investigation was the overdose death of Diamond Lynch, a young mother in Southeast D.C. In addition to investigating and prosecuting the death resulting case,[1] law enforcement followed the evidence and uncovered a vast network of traffickers who transported fentanyl from Mexico to Los Angeles to the District of Columbia. Since then, investigators have seized more than 450,000 fentanyl pills, 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl powder, and 30 firearms.

            Although Johnson entered this conspiracy after Ms. Lynch’s death, the lethality of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills was well known to him. For example, on December 15, 2022, Johnson received a text message asking if a coconspirator, Mathias Tsegaye, “still got blues.” In January 2023, Tsegaye was found dead, with the cause of death determined to be a drug overdose involving fentanyl. Despite this knowledge of fentanyl’s risks, Johnson continued to traffic the deadly pills.

            Johnson was arrested on November 9, 2023, in Alexandria, Va.

            This investigation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (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.

            The prosecutions followed a joint investigation by the DEA Washington Division and the USPIS Washington Divison in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with additional support from the DEA Los Angeles, San Diego, and Riverside Field Offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office, and the Charles County, Maryland Sheriff’s Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Central and Southern Districts of California, the Eastern District of Virginia, and the District of Maryland.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. Kinskey, Solomon S. Eppel, and Iris McCranie, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses (VRTO) Section.

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