Idaho Falls woman who had 11K fentanyl pills goes to federal prison
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The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho on Wednesday.
BOISE – Patricia Gomez, 42, of Idaho Falls, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford ordered that Gomez serve three years of supervised release after her term of incarceration.
According to court records, Gomez conspired with four codefendants to distribute fentanyl. Three of the codefendants – Juan Villa, 34, Tyson Mitchell, 37, and Kevin Sermon, 34, were incarcerated for prior drug crimes during the conspiracy. Villa had been arrested after bringing 20,000 fentanyl pills into Idaho. Villa, Mitchell, and Sermon recruited Gomez and Summer Jones, 37, of Idaho Falls, to receive drugs from a California-based source of supply and transport the drugs to Idaho for further distribution.
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Around May 29, 2023, Gomez traveled outside of Idaho to obtain a drug load in furtherance of the conspiracy. On May 30, 2023, Gomez returned to Idaho. Investigators stopped her vehicle and arrested her with 11,000 fentanyl pills.
Villa, Mitchell, Sermon, and Jones have all pleaded guilty to federal drug crimes and are awaiting sentencing in April and May.
U.S. Attorney Hurwit commended the cooperative efforts of the Idaho Falls Police Department, the Idaho State Police, and the Drug Enforcement Administration for their work on these cases. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Atwood and Francis Zebari prosecuted these cases.
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This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.