Man sentenced to 15 years for drug trafficking in Virginia after reportedly being deported 6 times
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – A man from the Dominican Republic was sentenced to 15 years in U.S. District Court for trafficking heroin and fentanyl in Virginia after he was reportedly deported six times.
On Thursday, Feb. 27, Gregorio Gustavo DeJesus Santos was sentenced to 15 years and 8 months in prison for the possession and the intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl and reentering the United States with a prior felony conviction.
According to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on Jan. 18, 2024, a state trooper pulled DeJesus Santos over on Interstate 85 in Mecklenburg County. During the traffic stop, a narcotics canine detected the odor of narcotics in his car.
State police then searched DeJesus Santos' car and found a hidden compartment that extended from the front passenger seat to the rear passenger seat. According to the DOJ, the compartment was empty and he was then released.
The DOJ release says DeJesus Santos then traveled to North Carolina before shortly returning to Virginia. Law enforcement reportedly stopped his car for a traffic infraction upon his reentry, and another canine detected the presence of narcotics. Police searched his vehicle and found two packages in the hidden compartment.
According to police, one package had 200 grams of fentanyl, while the second package had a mixture of fentanyl and heroin which was 293 grams.
"DeJesus Santos acknowledged as part of his guilty plea that he obtained and redistributed at least three additional kilograms of fentanyl," a release from the DOJ reads.
According to the DOJ, DeJesus Santos was deported on six previous occasions, beginning in 1996 -- the most recent being on Oct. 18, 2022, when he had been convicted of a felony drug charge in the Southern District of New York and released from prison.
