Drug dealer tied to teen overdoses in Carrollton pleads guilty to distributing fentanyl
A drug trafficker linked to a string of juvenile fentanyl overdoses in Carrollton pleaded guilty to multiple drug crimes Tuesday, according to Leigha Simonton, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
Jason Xavier Villanueva, 22, was charged via criminal complaint in February and was indicated later that same month.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl to a person under 21 years of age.
“Over and over, Mr. Villanueva put poison into the hands of teenagers who could not possibly comprehend the inherent risks. Not even the news of multiple teenage deaths deterred this defendant,” said Simonton. “The Justice Department will not rest until every person who peddled pills to these children, directly or indirectly, is behind bars. We have seen these kids’ faces — vibrant in life, heartrending in death — and we will not forget.”
Villanueva — through his lower-level dealers — is tied to 10 overdoses, including nine teenagers, in the Carrollton Farmer’s Branch school district, according to Simonton. The victims, all middle and high school students, ranged in age from 13 to 17.
Villanueva admitted he distributed more than 200,000 fentanyl pills to people in North Texas over the course of five to six months, at a rate of about 40,000 pills per month, according to plea papers.
He sold the pills — round blue tablets marked M-30 — to a network of juvenile and adult dealers in Carrollton who went on to sell to friends, classmates, and other customers. He often advertised on Instagram, according to Simonton.
Following the arrest of the two lower-level dealers he worked with — Eduardo Navarrete and Magaly Cano —Villanueva posted on social media, “Only thing that’s gonna stop us is feds.”
Villanueva is the third defendant charged in the wake of the Carrollton-Flower Mound juvenile overdoses to enter a guilty plea.
Cano and Stephen Paul Brinson pleaded guilty last month. Five other defendants, including Navarrete, have been charged but have not yet been convicted. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Villanueva faces up to 40 years in federal prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 4, 2023.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office and the Carrollton Police Department conducted the investigation with assistance of School Resource Officers from the Carrollton–Farmer’s Branch school district and the Lewisville school district.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rick Calvert and Phelesa Guy are prosecuting the case.
