LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Federal authorities sentenced a Lexington man and two Lawrenceburg men to lengthy prison term for a conspiracy to distribute more than 6.5 pounds of deadly fentanyl.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves sentenced 30-year-old Miguel Esparza of Lexington to 157 months in jail; 39-year-old Gadiel Ortiz-Flores of Lawrenceburg to 136 months. Previously, 38-year-old Brian Walker Hensley of Lawrenceburg was sentenced to 78 months in prison.
Officials say a joint investigation by state and federal authorities lead to searches of the men’s residences. Police say they found nearly 2 kilograms of fentanyl at Esparza’s Fayette County residence.
Ortiz-Flores and Hensley were found with a kilogram of the deadly drug.
“The defendants in this case were dealing in massive quantities of dangerous drugs,” Robert M. Duncan Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said in a statement. “The number of overdose deaths in our community continues to rise, and the quantities of illegal drugs involved in this criminal conspiracy were placing many lives in danger. Without the outstanding work of our law enforcements partners, this prosecution would not have been possible."
Authorities said the drugs were intended for distribution and that evidence or processing and packaging the drug for sales was also found at Esparza’s residence.
