Two Dallas residents were each sentenced to 188 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute over $600,000 worth of fentanyl.
Christle Nadia Ruiz, 22, and Ricardo Antonio Flores, 29, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to possessing with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. On June 26, U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer sentenced them to over 15 years in prison.
Court documents show the pair lived together and operated a fentanyl distribution network from a home on Ezekiel Avenue in Dallas. In February and March 2023, Flores delivered 1,000 fentanyl pills on two occasions, each time receiving $2,000. In April 2023, Ruiz received a shipment of approximately 50,000 fentanyl pills for distribution. During a search warrant execution that month, she attempted to flush several pills down a toilet.
Agents testified that Ruiz had received about 10,000 fentanyl pills three to four weeks prior and used a social media account with the phrases “Happy vibes . . . Thug Paradise” to promote sales. With each pill valued at $10 on Dallas streets, the 60,000 pills seized had an estimated street value of $600,000.
“As we pointed out to the Court during the defendants’ sentencing hearings, tens of thousands of tragic overdose deaths occur each year due to fentanyl, and those who distribute it know exactly what they are doing,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson. “The staggering amount of fentanyl in this case would have caused far-reaching devastation to our families and community, but for the tremendous efforts of our law enforcement partners in apprehending these defendants and keeping this deadly poison off the streets.”
“This sentence sends a clear message that those who profit from poisoning our communities with fentanyl will be held accountable,” said Eduardo A. Chavez, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA in Dallas. “Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has caused thousands of overdose deaths and devastated communities across the nation.”
The investigation involved the DEA, the Rockwall County Sheriff’s Department, the Rockwall Police Department, the Garland Police Department, the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office, the Flower Mound Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal prosecuted the case.