Carrollton drug dealer behind deadly fentanyl ring gets 20 years in prison
CARRROLLTON, Texas - Authorities say a Carrollton man responsible for the fentanyl drug ring that claimed the lives of four North Texas teens knew about the overdose deaths but continued his deadly scheme.
Luis Eduardo Navarrette, 22, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the fentanyl overdose scandal that rocked the city of Carrollton in 2022 and 2023.
In November, Navarette pleaded guilty to conspiracy and drug distribution charges.
Navarrete and several co-conspirators hired teenage drug dealers to sell fentanyl pills to students at R.L. Turner High School, Dewitt Perry Middle School and Dan Long Middle School.
Navarrete began trafficking fentanyl in August 2022. Since he was on house arrest and had an ankle monitor due to a previous crime, he relied on two drug runners, Rafael Soliz Jr. and Robert Gaitan, to bring him the counterfeit M-30 pills.
Evidence presented at Wednesday’s hearing showed Navarrete continued to supply fentanyl pills to kids even after he found out his drugs were leading several kids overdosing.
On Jan. 26, 2023, one of Navarrete’s teenage drug dealers told him that one of his counterfeit M30 pills caused a 14-year-old middle school student to "pass away." The dealer even included a photograph of first responders at the kid’s home trying to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful.
Less than a week later, a different teenage drug dealer told Navarrete that a 17-year-old high school student who had taken one of his counterfeit M-30 pills "couldn’t wake up."
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"Od bro… wtf happening," the dealer wrote. "Don’t tell me it was u that sold em like 18 30s… that’s another youngin dead bro."
Navarette was arrested two days later.
"Even as children overdosed and died around him, this defendant continued to distribute poisonous pills to juvenile dealers to sell in grade schools," said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. "Brushing off the pain of his young victims’ family and friends, he delivered fentanyl into the hands of children, extinguishing lives before they’d even really begun. The callousness he displayed is truly chilling."
The DEA determined the fentanyl Navarrete sold originated from the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
Navarrete is one of 11 people charged in connection to the drug ring that led to 14 juvenile overdoses. Four of them were fatal.
The mother of one of the teen victims testified at Navarrete’s sentencing hearing.
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"He was the soul of our home," she said about her son. "I would like for everyone who’s present to know that these people who sell fentanyl, they destroy families…. On behalf of all those children who have passed away due to fentanyl, this has to stop."
Navarrete’s main supplier, Jason Xavier Villanueva, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His two drug runners, Soliz and Gaitan, were sentenced to 15 to and five years respectively.