Carrollton Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison

More than one year after his arrest, the first person charged in the Carrollton juvenile fentanyl scandal has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Luis Eduardo Navarrete, 22, was charged in February 2023 and pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance to a person under 21 years of age. According to a statement from Leigha Simonton, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, at least four juvenile deaths were attributed to Navarrete.

A press release stated that Navarrete and several co-conspirators trafficked fentanyl pills made to look like oxycodone to a network of juvenile drug dealers, who then sold the pills to students at R.L. Turner High School, Dewitt Perry Middle School and Dan Long Middle School. Also, according to evidence presented at the hearing, Navarrete continued to sell illicit pills to students after he had been told they had caused overdoses.

“Today’s sentencing of twenty years, I feel, is appropriate for the seriousness of Navarrete’s crimes,” said Eduardo A. Chavez, DEA Dallas special agent in charge, in the press release. “Navarrete and others were responsible for causing enormous heartache and sorrow to many families. It is appropriate to show that the Carrollton Police Department and the [Department of Justice] remain serious about protecting our citizens, and especially our youth, from drug dealers who think they can prey on our children by pushing poison on them.”

The press release also noted that the fentanyl Navarrete sold originated from the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and that over the course of the investigation, officers and agents made roughly 40 adult and juvenile arrests and seized more than 1.2 million fentanyl pills off the street.

Navarrete is one of 11 defendants charged in connection with the case that brought a great deal of scrutiny to the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. Over the course of 2023, following the arrests, a number of high school and middle school students in the district were treated for possible opioid overdoses when they were found unresponsive on campus.

Previously, Jason Xavier Villanueva, named as the "main source of supply" by authorities, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, and co-defendants Rafael Soliz Jr. and Robert Gaitan were sentenced to 15 and five years, respectively. In October 2023 Donovan Jude Andrews was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for his role in selling fentanyl to kids in the Carrollton area.