BIRMINGHAM - A federal judge today sentenced two men for conspiring to traffic nearly $2 million worth of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in Jefferson County, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton.
U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced FERLANDO CARMISE MIMS, 19, of Birmingham, to 15 years and one month in prison, and MARAHAI ARDIZO ENRIQUEZ, 25, of Phoenix, Ariz., to four years and nine months in prison. Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, acknowledging their involvement in the distribution of multiple kilograms of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl between September 2015 and October 2016.
“Overdoses from heroin and fentanyl in Birmingham and across Northern Alabama have become epidemic," Posey said. “To combat the rising death toll we work closely with DEA and other law enforcement partners to identify the most serious drug-trafficking threats and conduct joint enforcement actions like the one that took down this large-scale opioid distribution organization."
Two of the nine defendants in the case remain to be sentenced. They are ANTHONY LEVY WARD, 36, of Chelsea, on Sept. 28, and JOSE AGUSTIN GUTIERREZ, 31, of Phoenix, on Nov. 9.
The amount of fentanyl trafficked in the conspiracy was about 4.6 kilograms, or nearly 233,000 user doses of the drug. The total amount of heroin trafficked was about 5 kilograms, or approximately 50,000 user doses.
Enriquez was responsible for trafficking 8.8 kilograms of cocaine and Mims with trafficking one kilogram of heroin.
The DEA investigated the case in conjunction with the Birmingham and Hoover police departments and the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
