A Dallas man has been sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that led to the death of a 17-year-old boy, according to an announcement from Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson.
Jesse Medina, 42, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to aiding and abetting the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. On August 18, U.S. District Judge David Godbey sentenced Medina to 292 months in federal prison.
Court documents and evidence showed that on January 30, 2024, co-defendant Connor Miller contacted Medina—also known as “Plug”—to buy fentanyl. Medina sold four pills to Miller and the teenager for $40 at a location on Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas. After returning to Miller’s residence, both individuals used the fentanyl; the teenager died as a result. Medical records confirmed that the teen’s death was caused by ingesting fentanyl.
Medina was arrested on January 31, 2024, with 25 fentanyl pills in his possession. Evidence also indicated that after his arrest, Medina told a woman he knew about selling four pills and mentioned that a seventeen-year-old who used them had died. He told her he did not feel sympathy for the victim: “I don’t have no sympathy for the seventeen-year-old at all . . . ‘Cause that’s his choice . . . [H]e’s old enough to know how dangerous these pills are . . . I don’t got no sympathy for that . . . [I]f I would have sold it to him . . . I would feel bad, but I don’t even feel bad at all, I’m cool, ‘cause I didn’t do nothing wrong.”
The court also reviewed Medina’s prior convictions related to controlled substances. He had previously been sent to substance abuse facilities while on probation and served time in the Texas Department of Corrections following an offense in Rockwall County. After release from prison, he was arrested again in Dallas County for methamphetamine possession and placed on deferred probation; a motion to revoke this probation is still pending.
“Tough sentences are necessary for those defendants responsible for the tragic deaths resulting from fentanyl trafficking,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson. “This Office will continue to advocate for the most severe sentences for those who, like the defendant, have a cavalier attitude toward the deadly consequences of their actions. While a lengthy prison sentence for this offender and others like him will never restore the loss suffered by the victim’s family, we will continue to prosecute those who flood our community with this poison to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Unfortunately, this guilty verdict will not bring our victim back or take away the suffering his family and friends have endured. What it does do; however, is affirm that justice prevails and drug dealers and enablers, like Mr. Medina, will be held accountable for their reckless actions,” said DEA Dallas Acting Special Agent in Charge Joseph B. Tucker. “DEA will always aggressively investigate the illicit distribution of deadly drugs in our communities. The memories of those lives lost to drugs will not be in vain.”
Co-defendants Connor Miller and Tecose Dchaz Martin have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division and Richardson Police Department with support from other local law enforcement agencies as well as assistance from federal authorities such as IRS Criminal Investigations Section and FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team.
Assistant United States Attorney George Leal prosecuted this case.
