Accused Drug Dealer Arrested and Indicted for Allegedly Possessing and Distributing Fentanyl

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A foreign national living in Utah accused of committing drug crimes was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City.

Sabino Osvaldo Gomez-Perez, 36, of Salt Lake County, was initially charged by complaint on October 11, 2024, in the District of Utah.

According to court documents, the FBI Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force, began a criminal investigation of Gomez-Perez and other members of a drug trafficking organization suspected of distributing large quantities of narcotics in the District of Utah.  On October 9, 2024, agents executed a search warrant for a motel room where Gomez-Perez was staying in Salt Lake County. Agents suspected that Gomez-Perez was using the hotel room to traffic drugs. During the search, agents seized 5,857 grams of field-tested positive fentanyl. Agents estimated the fentanyl at approximately 58,000 fentanyl pills.

Gomez-Perez is charged with possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute and illegal reentry of a previously removed alien. His initial appearance on the indictment is scheduled for October 30, 2024, at 2:15 p.m., in courtroom 8.4 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.

United States Attorney Trina A. Higgins for the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated by the FBI Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force (WMDTF).  

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.  

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.