Federal prosecutors have scored a huge guilty plea in the deadly Carrollton High School fentanyl ring, and now one of the top suppliers faces a long prison term.
Court records show 18-year-old Julio Gonzales Jr. sold more than 120,000 counterfeit pills that were laced with fentanyl before he was caught. In fact, the US Attorney's office calls Gonzales the top supplier in the Carrollton ring.
Gonzales sold M30 pills individually and also sold customers “K Packs” which consisted of 1,000 pills at a time.
According to court documents, in February 2023, a 16-year-old dealer who delivered the fentanyl pills that killed a 14-year-old girl in December 2022 allegedly identified Mr. Gonzales, whom he called “J-Money,” as his supplier. In text messages, the child discussed “J-Money” with codefendant Luis Eduardo Navarrete, one of the first dealers charged in the scheme. They identified “J-Money” as their “plug,” street parlance for a source of supply.
12 students from Carrollton were poisoned taking the pills late last year and early this year, three of them died including a 14-year-old girl who took one of the pills that came from Gonzales's stash.
During a search, DEA agents found thousands of fentanyl-laced M-30 pills stuffed in the microwave, a partial kilogram of cocaine tucked in a plastic food storage container, bulk U.S. currency hidden in the closet, and numerous firearms, including a pistol equipped with an illegal Glock switch, littered throughout the home.
Gonzales is the eighth defendant charged in the wake of the Carrollton / Flower Mound juvenile overdose investigation to enter a guilty plea. Jason Xavier Villanueva, Magaly Cano, Robert Alexander Gaitan, Rafael Soliz, Jr., Adrian Martinez-Leon, Donovan Jude Andrews and Stephen Paul Brinson pleaded guilty earlier this year; Luis Eduardo Navarrete has been charged but not yet convicted. (All are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)
Mr. Gonzales now faces up to 40 years in federal prison.
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