Source: United States Department of Justice News
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney Mark Totten announced that Jason Duenas, 27, of Holland, pleaded guilty to possession of more than 5 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute. At sentencing, Duenas will face a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years in prison. The date of sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
“Drug dealing at kilogram scale doesn’t just ruin lives, it ruins communities,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten, for the Western District of Michigan. “Apart from the harm caused to drug users and their loved ones, trafficking at this level fuels deadly gun violence that can subject entire neighborhoods to a climate of fear and reprisal. My office remains committed to holding dealers fully accountable for their willingness to trample communities in pursuit of profit.”
According to facts contained within Duenas’s written plea agreement, Duenas kept approximately 19 kilograms of cocaine inside a home during the summer of 2022. Most of the cocaine was packaged into “bricks” that were stored in and around a laundry room to which Duenas had access. Duenas planned to sell the drugs to others for personal profit.
Duenas’s arrest was the culmination of an interagency investigation led by the West Michigan Enforcement Team, the Holland Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Interagency investigations are a crucial part of how the Department of Justice combats illegal drug trafficking. Often, agencies partner through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
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