CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Francisco Chanes, of Los Angeles, California, was sentenced today to 188 months of incarceration for his role in methamphetamine, crack cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin drug distribution operation, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.
Chanes, age 31, pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances” and one count of “Unlawful Use of Communication Facility.” Chanes admitted to working with others to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine base, cocaine hydrochloride, and fentanyl from the Spring of 2018 until October 2020.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zelda E. Wesley and Sarah E. Wagner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The FBI’s Northern West Virginia Drug Task Force in partnership with the Mon Metro Drug Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated. The Task Forces have members from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; West Virginia State Police; Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office; and, the Morgantown, WVU, Granville and Star City Police Departments. The investigation was also assisted by the following law enforcement partners: the Monongalia County Prosecutor’s Office; the FBI in Houston, Texas; the Houston Police Department’s Multi Agency Gang Initiative; the United States Postal Inspection Service in Houston; and the FBI and DEA in Los Angeles, California.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. 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.
Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.
Related case here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndwv/pr/25-people-indicted-drug-trafficking-operation-spanned-several-states