Francisco Villegas-Garcia, a 37-year-old Mexican national, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the U.S. District Court in Columbus for his involvement in a fentanyl conspiracy. Villegas-Garcia was identified as a high-level drug trafficker within a large-scale organization linked to Mexico, responsible for transporting and distributing significant quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
Court documents reveal that Villegas-Garcia frequently traveled between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbus as part of his trafficking activities. During one incident in Charlotte, agents confiscated $100,000 in cash from him.
The DEA field offices in Charlotte and Columbus conducted further investigations which showed that Villegas-Garcia regularly communicated with other members of the drug trafficking organization about their drug supplies, sales operations, wiring money to Mexico, and arranging couriers for money transfers. He maintained contact with the source of drugs in Mexico.
In January 2023, agents executed a search warrant at Villegas-Garcia's residence on Willowswitch Lane in Columbus. They found eight kilograms of fentanyl and its analogue along with $120,000 hidden inside the wall. Subsequently, he was detained and arrested at Los Gauchos Taqueria on South Hamilton Road in Columbus while carrying 28 grams of cocaine and over $10,000.
Villegas-Garcia pleaded guilty in March 2024 to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl.
The sentencing was announced by Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Andrew Lawton, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Detroit Field Division; and Assistant United States Attorney Damoun Delaviz who is representing the United States.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at identifying and dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening the United States through a coordinated multi-agency approach.