Annandale man gets 15 years on drug charges
An Annandale man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Nov. 20 for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, the Department of Justice reports.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, police observed Marcantonio Juarez Velasquez, 20, conducting a hand-to-hand narcotics transaction in Fairfax County. Police subsequently obtained an arrest warrant.
When officers arrested Juarez Velasquez on Aug. 2, 2024, he was in possession of a handgun, an extended magazine containing 15 rounds of ammunition, $949.83, and 258 fentanyl pills.
While Juarez Velasquez was detained pending trial, he directed a minor to conceal fentanyl pills, a firearm, and cash within the residence of Juarez Velasquez’s family.
When officers searched the home on Aug. 6, 2024, they found 9,220 fentanyl pills, $2,344, a handgun, and two ammunition magazines, along with an identification card and a debit card belonging to Juarez Velasquez.
This article is written so poorly it’s hard to follow. From what I can tell, he had two guns and two separate drug inventories, one seized during the arrest and another recovered in a later search of his home. The release never explains that cleanly, which is why the whole thing reads like a muddled timeline.
The 15-year sentence looks like the statutory minimum. He got 10 years for the fentanyl and 5 for the firearm. What’s interesting is that two guns were recovered in total, and federal gun charges can easily reach 10 years per count. So it looks like prosecutors only pursued one gun charge, which is why the sentence is at the low end of what was possible.