MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to 5+ Years in Heroin Conspiracy With Girlfriend
An MS-13 gang member was sentenced today to more than five years in federal prison for a drug crime, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Williams Josue Fuentes-Argueta, a 30-year-old El Salvadorian in the U.S. illegally, was indicted in November 2021 and pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. He was sentenced Wednesday to 64 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, who also ordered him to forfeit two handguns.
At his sentencing hearing, Judge Starr ruled that the defendant belonged to MS-13, a notoriously violent transnational street gang with the creed, “kill, rob, rape, control.”
In plea papers, Mr. Fuentes-Argueta admitted he and his co-conspirator, girlfriend Angie Marlyn Valencia, dealt heroin out of an apartment on Royal Lane in Dallas.
On Sept. 16, 2021, while Ms. Valencia acted as lookout, Mr. Fuentes-Argueta sold more than 70 grams of heroin to an undercover Texas DPS officer for $2,7000 cash. About two weeks later, the pair teamed up again to sell another 76 grams of heroin to two undercover officers.
On Oct. 12, officers searched the defendants’ residence and found 20 grams of heroin and two handguns, a 9mm M&P and a .380mm Keltec.
Ms. Valencia, who also plead guilty to engaging in the conspiracy, was sentenced in August 2022 to 65 months in federal prison. Judge Starr found that Ms. Valencia also met the criteria to be considered an MS-13 gang member.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Carrolton Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal is prosecuting the case.
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