FRESNO, Calif. — On Friday, Sept. 25, after a four day trial, a federal jury found Andrew Madrid, 27, of Modesto, guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and distributing fentanyl in Stanislaus County, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.
According to court documents and evidence produced at trial, Madrid was involved in two drug deals that took place in a shopping center parking lot in Turlock. In March 2023, Madrid and others provided another individual with two firearms and 1,000 fentanyl pills. A month later, in April 2023, Madrid and others sold 6,000 fentanyl pills and a Draco rifle (PAK-9 9 mm Luger) to the same individual.
March 2023
April 2023
This case was part of Operation Blue Death, an investigation into illegal drug and firearm trafficking in Stanislaus County between September 2022 and June 2023. The operation came to a conclusion on June 13, 2023, when officers arrested Madrid and three co-defendants in possession of 50,000 fentanyl pills and several firearms. All seven individuals charged with drug and firearm trafficking offenses as a result of Operation Blue Death have been convicted.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cody S. Chapple and Chan Hee Chu are prosecuting the case.
Madrid is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Micah W.J. Smith on Jan. 11, 2027. Madrid faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Central Valley HSTF is composed of agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, and IRS Criminal Investigation with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Eastern District of California — U.S. Department of Justice press release.