Two men convicted of supplying fentanyl-laced pills to a drug trafficking ring were sentenced to federal prison Monday, Jan 13.
Adan Ruiz, 27, of Garden Grove, was sentenced to 17 years and 11 months behind bars and co-defendant Omar Navia, 39, of South Los Angeles, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter. Navia pleaded guilty April 29 to a count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and Ruiz pleaded guilty June 3 to a count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and a count of distribution of fentanyl.
The two have been behind bars since November 2023. From August 2021 to December 2022, the two supplied the pills to Michael Ta, 26, of Westminster, and Rajiv Srinivasan, 38, of Houston, who sold the drugs through the darknet and encrypted messaging applications to more than 1,000 customers all over the country, prosecutors said. Several of the customers suffered fatal overdoses, prosecutors said.
Navia admitted in his plea agreement he also supplied methamphetamine to the drug ring, prosecutors said.
From February 2022 to November 2022, Srinivasan and Ta made at least 3,800 drug deals to about 1,400 customers across the country, prosecutors said. They dealt more than 123,000 fentanyl-laced M30 pills, about nine kilograms of methamphetamine, and nearly 300 grams of fentanyl powder known as China White and black tar heroin and 27 grams of cocaine, prosecutors said.
Ta, who pleaded guilty in August 2023, is serving a prison term of 21 years and eight months, and Srinivasan, who pleaded guilty in June 2023, is serving a prison sentence of 19 years and seven months.
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