Colorado drug trafficking leader sentenced to over 300 years in prison

A 67-year-old Colorado man has been sentenced to 376 years in prison for running a drug trafficking operation, county officials said.

Jose Arellano-Arredondo was found guilty in June on more than 40 drug-related and money laundering charges, according to an Aug. 15 news release from the Weld County District Attorney's Office.

Arellano-Arredondo was sentenced last week, the press release said.

According to Assistant District Attorney Michael Pirraglia, Arellano-Arredondo's illegal activities continued for years and impacted the lives of countless people.

“For years, this man flooded our streets and our community with massive amounts of poison. The true extent of the lives he destroyed may never be known. He exploited the addictions of others for his personal profit, and we will not tolerate this behavior in our community,” he said in the press release.

An undercover investigation into Arellano-Arredondo's criminal activities began in 2019 as part of an operation led by the Weld County Drug Task Force.

Prosecutors confirmed that the investigation uncovered a drug trafficking operation in which drugs were smuggled from Mexico into two U.S. states, including Nevada and Arizona, before reaching Arellano-Arredondo in Greeley, Colorado, which ultimately led to his conviction.

Undercover purchases by investigators led to searches of Arellano-Arredondo's residence in September 2020.

During their investigation, drug agents seized tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash, all of which could be traced back to Arellano-Arredondo and his co-conspirators.

“During the course of the investigation into Arellano-Arredondo's operation, law enforcement intercepted and seized thousands of fentanyl pills, several pounds of meth, several ounces of cocaine, and more than $100,000 in cash,” the press release said.

A national epidemic

The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics estimates that more than 100,000 people will die from drug overdoses in the United States by 2023.

And nearly three-quarters of those overdose deaths are related to fentanyl. The CDC estimates that by 2023, about 75,000 Americans will have died from an overdose of synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl.

Most of the fentanyl imported into the United States comes from Mexico, but the precursor chemicals needed to make the drug are imported in large quantities from China.

The drug is then manufactured by Mexican drug cartels and often mixed with other narcotics before being shipped to the United States.

In Texas alone, more than half a billion lethal doses of fentanyl have been seized. That would be more than enough to kill the entire population of the United States.