A 50-year-old Long Beach man was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in federal prison for his part in peddling fentanyl out of an auto upholstery shop in Gardena.
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Hector Valle pleaded guilty May 8 to a count of possession with intent to distribute at least 400 grams of fentanyl and a count of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Co-defendant Efren Sanchez, 54, of Long Beach was sentenced Aug. 15 to 10 years in federal prison. He pleaded guilty March 20 to the same charges.
Valle and Sanchez were indicated on charges of also distributing methamphetamine, and Valle was also charged with possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and possessing guns for a drug-trafficking crime, according to prosecutors.
Authorities seized more than 14.3 kilograms of fentanyl, about 424 grams of methamphetamine and about 675 grams of cocaine, six guns, 117 rounds of ammunition and about $21,700 in crash during searches of three locations, prosecutors said. Agents also seized multiple packages of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine stuffed into a vending machine at the Stichin' Time auto upholstery shop, where Valle worked.
Valle wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani for considering home detention and an outpatient rehabilitation program for him.
He said it gave him hope he could spend time with his family as he deals with his health problems.
It provided "hope to me that when the inevitable day comes of my passing I will not die in a cold cell by myself or in a bed surrounded by strangers, but rather I would be surrounded by my loved ones," he wrote.
Valle said he is so fearful about his health that he has cried himself to sleep. He said he is losing sight in his right eye and is awaiting word on a colonoscopy and endoscopy.
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