Olver Anacleto Amador-Calderon, 24, and Alexander Josue Viatoro-Arita, 22, both illegal aliens from Honduras, were sentenced to prison on Aug. 5 for trafficking fentanyl following an investigation by the Homeland Security Task Force, according to Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Amador-Calderon received a sentence of 14 years in prison while Viatoro-Arita was sentenced to 10 years. Both will be deported after completing their sentences. The defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. “These defendants entered our country illegally and fueled the distribution of deadly fentanyl while armed with stolen firearms. They will serve time in an American prison before they are deported, and we will continue our fight to completely eliminate fentanyl from our community,” said Ferguson.
Court documents show that in January 2025 Viatoro-Arita sold nearly 25 grams of fentanyl to a cooperating individual. Later that day, investigators searched the hotel room where both men were staying and recovered more than 330 grams of fentanyl, about $33,000 in cash, two ledgers documenting drug sales totaling approximately $159,400 between December 2024 and January 2025—including over eleven kilograms of fentanyl and nearly three kilograms of methamphetamine—and firearms concealed on both men: Amador-Calderon had a .380 caliber Titan pistol; Viatoro-Arita had a stolen nine-millimeter Taurus pistol with a partially obliterated serial number.
The FBI, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, and Gastonia Police Department handled the investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.
Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) is an initiative established by Executive Order 14159 aimed at eliminating criminal cartels and transnational organizations operating within the United States through interagency collaboration among federal law enforcement agencies as well as local departments across North Carolina and South Carolina.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina advances public safety through initiatives addressing elder abuse and substance abuse; maintains facilities in Charlotte and Asheville; operates under the U.S. Department of Justice; employs nearly one hundred federal prosecutors and support staff; handles prosecutions of federal crimes along with civil actions for the government; covers a region including half of Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians community, according to its official website.