AUSTIN, Texas — Two men were sentenced in a federal court in Austin on Monday for their involvement in a fentanyl distribution organization.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said 25-year-old Christopher Brock of Pflugerville and 20-year-old Marcos "Alex" Roberto Garcia of Somerton, Arizona, were arrested with other organization members on Jan. 4, 2022, on charges of distrusting fentanyl in the Austin area. The DOJ said Brock served as a courier and retail dealer of counterfeit oxycodone tablets containing fentanyl, while Garcia was identified as the main source of the supply, purchasing pills Mexico and, with the help of co-conspirators, organizing their shipment from Arizona to Austin via the U.S. Postal Service.
The DOJ said agents began investigating the organization in March 2021, in response to fentanyl overdoses in the Austin area.
On Monday, Brock was sentenced to 90 months, or seven-and-a-half years, in prison and three years of supervised release. Garcia was sentenced to 87 months, or seven years and three months, in prison and four years of supervised release.
Eight codefendants of Brock and Garcia have been sentenced since January 2023. Here's a breakdown of those sentencings:
- Adi Martinez Marquez, 21, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, was sentenced to 14 months (1 year and 2 months) in prison
- Ezequiel Azmitia-Jimenez, 20, of Lockhart, was sentenced to 36 months (3 years)
- Fernando Beltran, 22, of Austin, was sentenced to 180 months (15 years)
- Oliver Garcia, 21, of Lockhart, was sentenced to 180 months (15 years)
- Matthew Juan, 20, of Austin, was sentenced to 90 months (7.5 years)
- Andres Ruben Ramirez, 24, of Austin, was sentenced to 48 months (4 years)
- Daemon Garcia, 20, of San Marcos, was sentenced to 30 months (2.5 years)
- Michael Bauman, 19, of Austin, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison
The DOJ said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, along with police in Austin, Cedar Park, San Marcos and San Angelo, investigated this case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Marshall prosecuted the case.