Pair Sentenced for Roles in Methamphetamine Conspiracy

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – Two men who played roles in trafficking methamphetamine into the Charlottesville area were sentenced this week in separate hearings in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced today.

Today in District Court, John Mark Fisher, 54, of Roanoke, Virginia, who pled guilty in January 2016 to possession with the intent to distribute and distributing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, was sentenced to 132 months in federal prison. A second defendant, Alfonso Lopez-Rios, 33, of Charlottesville, Va., pled guilty in August 2015 to possession with the intent to distribute and distributing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Thursday in District Court, Lopez-Rios was sentenced to 58 months in Federal Prison.

“The use of methamphetamine has a dramatic effect on communities all across the Western District of Virginia and we will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to stop the trafficking of this very addicting and destructive drug,” United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said today.

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh, Lopez-Rios admitted to participating in a larger conspiracy in which he would travel from Charlottesville, Virginia to North Carolina to obtain large quantities of methamphetamine.  In his travels, Lopez-Rios would also drive to Roanoke to sell half-pound and pound quantities of methamphetamine to Fisher, another high-level distributor in the Roanoke area.

Lopez-Rios, Fisher, along with a third man, Jose Alfredo Gonzalez-Martinez, are being prosecuted as part of Operation Ice Storm, a multi-agency operation headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration and in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The operation’s goal is to target larger distributors and traffickers of methamphetamine into Charlottesville and surrounding areas.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh prosecuted the case for the United States.