- Sabino Osvaldo Gomez-Perez was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for trafficking fentanyl.
- He pleaded guilty to possessing 58,000 pills, with the intent to distribute them in Utah.
- Gomez-Perez's case marked his first drug conviction; he will face deportation post-sentence.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man from Mexico was sentenced this week in federal court to almost five years in prison for trafficking approximately 58,000 fentanyl pills.
Sabino Osvaldo Gomez-Perez, 36, pleaded guilty in May to possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute. He was initially also charged with illegal reentry of a previously removed person, but that charge was dropped as part of his plea deal.
In October 2024, Gomez-Perez was suspected of using a motel room to house drugs as part of a larger drug trafficking organization "believed to be distributing large quantities of narcotics in the District of Utah," charging documents say.
A search warrant was executed on Oct. 9, and officers found approximately 5,857 grams of fentanyl, equating to about 58,000 pills, the charges say. During an interview after the arrest, investigators said in court documents that Gomez-Perez "admitted to possessing the narcotics found in the motel room" and admitted to "previously distributing narcotics in Utah."
Prosecutors said even though Gomez-Perez had a substantial quantity of drugs, he "ultimately played a low-level role in a drug trafficking organization." He had been in the U.S. for less than a week and learned he was going to distribute drugs only after arriving in Arizona, a sentencing memorandum states.
Gomez-Perez has been deported five times, and his reentries were economically motivated as he grew up and stayed poor while living in Mexico, according to court documents. This case was his first drug distribution conviction and was "directly related" to his recent drug use and addiction, prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum.
"Since this is Gomez-Perez's first conviction for drug distribution and his first imprisonment, there is no reason to believe that he will repeat this conduct following incarceration and deportation to Mexico," the sentencing memorandum states. "Four years in prison is a significant period of incarceration, and it is sufficient for a first-time drug offender."
Gomez-Perez will be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he serves his 57 months in federal prison, according to court documents.
