Trafficker Who Smuggled Mass Quantities of Fentanyl from Southern California to DC Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison

            WASHINGTON – Raymond Nava Jr., 20, of Bell Gardens, California., was sentenced today to 168 months in prison for his role in a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy that spanned the country and that was responsible for the distribution of kilograms of fentanyl from Southern California to the DMV. Nava – who sold 12,000 fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills and one dozen firearms, including an AR-style rifle to undercover officers – 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.

            Nava pleaded guilty on May 9, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. In addition to the 14-year prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Nava to serve five years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, Nava’s role in the conspiracy was to serve as an upstream Los Angeles-based supplier of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to other Los Angeles-based fentanyl traffickers, including co-defendant Hector David Valdez. Valdez allegedly was a bulk supplier of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to D.C.-based fentanyl traffickers.

            In coordinating his sales of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills, Nava worked with various co-defendants to obtain bulk quantities of pills for redistribution, including fake pills from Mexico-based sources. Nava also conspired with New York-based fentanyl traffickers, meeting with them in Los Angeles and supplying them with the fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone, which the New York-based traffickers then smuggled back to New York using interstate commercial shipping and mail carriers.

            Additionally, Nava regularly trafficked firearms in conjunction with his drug trafficking. He conducted multiple controlled purchases of narcotics and firearms with undercover federal law enforcement agents.

            In total, Nava sold 12,000 fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills and one dozen firearms, including an AR-style rifle, as part of controlled sales that were facilitated by federal undercover officers over the life of conspiracy.

            The impetus for this 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.

            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 Division 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, the District of Maryland and U.S. Marshals.

            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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