Convicted fentanyl dealer Donovan Jude Andrews was sentenced on Wednesday to nine years in federal prison for his role in the devastating string of fentanyl overdoses and deaths in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.
Andrews, 21, who was arrested in March, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance to a person 21 years or younger. When he was arrested, police noted that the then 20-year-old Andrews brazenly and brashly used social media to market to kids in an effort to fill an illicit pill gap left in the wake of the February arrests of Luis Navarrete and Magaly Cano, a pair allegedly tied to 10 juvenile fentanyl overdoses and deaths in North Texas.
According to the Dallas Morning News, during Wednesday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade pointed to Andrews’ methods and attitude when discussing the penalty.
“To be a door-to-door drug salesman to kids and brag about killing kids,” the DMN quoted the judge as saying from the bench. “That’s the epitome of what’s happening in our country and the scourge. It’s like coming to the door and shooting them.”
Upon Andrews’ arrest, U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton, was similarly appalled at a perceived disregard for life displayed by the dealer’s social media and personal interactions with his underage clients.
“Most of us recoiled in horror when we heard that nine Carrollton children suffered ten fentanyl overdoses in the span of just six months,” Simonton said in a press release. “Mr. Andrews, on the other hand, allegedly seized on the situation as a marketing opportunity. Knowing full well that fentanyl was killing our kids, he allegedly attempted to convert survivors into customers.”
“Most of us recoiled in horror when we heard that nine Carrollton children suffered ten fentanyl overdoses in the span of just six months.” – Leigha Simonton, U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Texas
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“We believe that yesterday’s sentencing of Mr. Andrews sends a strong message to fentanyl dealers that drug dealing in our great community will be taken seriously,” Carrollton Chief of Police Roberto Arredondo told the Observer in a written statement. “We will continue to aggressively pursue drug dealers in partnership with our local and federal partners. We love our residents and we will continue to fight to keep them as safe as we possibly can.”
Andrews is the second person to be sentenced of the 11 charged in connection with the Carrollton fentanyl deaths and overdoses that stretched from September 2022 to January 2023. Stephen Paul Brinson, 18, was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for dealing pills he knew were laced with fentanyl to minors.
According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, four other defendants connected to the Carrollton fentanyl case have entered guilty pleas: Cano, Rafael Soliz Jr., Robert Alexander Gaitin and Jason Villanueva, the man authorities say was a “main source of supply” for fentanyl pills sold to students in the CFBISD.
Five other defendants associated with this case — Navarrete, Julio Gonzalez, Adrian Martinez-Leon, Lizbeth Prieto and Christian Lopez — have not yet entered pleas, according to court records.
Andrews’ sentencing took place a day before Simonton announced a pair of fentanyl-related developments. Elijah James Perez, 21, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Thursday for selling fentanyl that killed a man in Abilene in 2022. Also announced on Thursday was the arrest of 11 alleged fentanyl traffickers, the result of a major sting operation that seized firearms and bulk U.S. currency, along with hundreds of pills laced with fentanyl.
As for three of the remaining defendants from Carrollton, Judge Kinkeade recently granted a motion to try Navarrete, Gonzalez and Martinez-Leon together, with a new trial date set for Jan. 22, 2024.
