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Press Release

Leader of Heroin Conspiracy Sentenced to Over 12 Years in Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. – On Tuesday, August 30, 2016, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones sentenced Christopher Guillen-Robles to 151 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release, and entered a money judgment of $150,000 against the defendant. The sentencing followed the defendant’s earlier guilty pleas to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other partner agencies arrested Guillen-Robles and over 20 co-defendants in February 2015 after an investigation which began in mid-2014. Through a complex investigation, involving a lengthy set of wiretaps, agents determined that Guillen-Robles led a drug trafficking group that was importing black tar heroin from the state of Nayarit in Mexico to the Portland area and then distributing it to other cells operating in Oregon. The group was also involved in significant money laundering through bulk cash smuggling, wire transfers, and bank deposits, with the cash proceeds of heroin distribution eventually going to Mexico. The investigation involved several large seizures of heroin and cash.

U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams said, “This case demonstrates the sophistication and means by which Nayarit-based enterprises have flooded the Portland area with black tar heroin and the immense monetary profits involved in their illegal drug activity. It comes at a time when Oregon and the rest of the United States are experiencing an epidemic of opiate addiction, abuse, and overdose deaths. The sentence recognizes the seriousness of this activity and the importance of the investigation and prosecution.”

The investigation was led by DEA Portland with significant contributions made by the drug teams of the Portland Police Bureau Drugs and Vice Division, Clackamas County Interagency Task Force, Westside Interagency Narcotics Team, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas H. Edmonds and Steven T. Mygrant.

Updated August 31, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking
Component