CLEVELAND (WJW) -- A Mexican national living in Painesville who conspired with members of a Mexican drug cartel to bring "millions of doses of fentanyl" into the U.S. will now spend more than 12 years in prison.
Ronald Rendon-Luna, 37, of Mexico, pleaded guilty to federal charges of drug-trafficking conspiracy and being an alien in possession of firearms, according to a Tuesday news release from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Rebecca Lutzko. A federal judge sentenced him to 151 months in prison.
The Cleveland FBI's Cartel, Gangs, Narcotics and Laundering Task Force for years investigated Rendon-Luna and three other co-conspirators from Dayton, California and Florida -- two of whom are connected to the prominent Sinaloa cartel based in Mexico.
The group's leader, Nefer Ojeda-Elenes, 32, of California, conspired with Rendon-Luna to store drugs and drug money at homes in Cleveland and Painesville and storage units in Cleveland and Middleburg Heights, according to the release. Ojeda-Elenes was sentenced in September to 228 months in prison.
Federal agents executing search warrants found illegal drugs in a storage unit and several weapons, including an AK-47 and an AR-15 from Rendon-Luna's Painesville home, according to the release.
Rendon-Luna met at local hotels with another co-conspirator, Cameron Harris, 29, of Dayton, who distributed the drugs in the Dayton area, according to the release. Harris was sentenced in August to 151 months in prison.
The fourth co-conspirator, Alexander Briceno-Matheus, 31, of Florida, met with Rendon-Luna at a local hotel to receive nearly $150,000 in drug money. Briceno-Matheus was sentenced in July to 30 months in prison.
In all, the group distributed more than 100 kilograms of fentanyl and more than 40 kilograms of cocaine, according to the release.
“These criminals used their Mexican Cartel connections to bring millions of doses of fentanyl -- each one potentially fatal -- into our communities and distribute those poisons across our state,” Lutzko is quoted in the release. “Every day, dangerous drugs like the fentanyl and cocaine that these defendants imported and peddled on our streets destroy lives. Those who seek to expand their illegal drug trade to our district should know that we will use all tools available to stop them from endangering our residents’ lives and the safety of our neighborhoods.”