DALLAS — A 23-year-old North Texas man who stashed fentanyl pills inside his child’s stuffed bear has learned his punishment.
Jorge Miguel Arteaga Medina of Dallas was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison. He pled guilty in February to possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
According to plea papers, Medina received fentanyl pills from a supplier in Mexico known to agents as “22” and sold them to customers in the Dallas area.
In February 2023, a confidential source bought 171 grams of fentanyl pills from Medina. During the meeting, which was recorded, Medina told the source to contact him if they needed more fentanyl pills in the future.
A month later, the confidential source reached out to Medina and asked to purchase more pills, according to court documents.
Medina said he had roughly 3,000 pills in his possession but would need to contact his superior in Mexico – believed to be “22” – if the source needed more than that. When authorities revealed that Medina had been under investigation, Medina admitted to having a large quantity of pills in his apartment as well as a Smith & Wesson handgun inside the satchel strapped to his chest.
He then brought the agents to his apartment, where his wife and small child lived, and showed them the pills. Some were in a bedroom closet, and the remainder were concealed in his child’s stuffed bear.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal prosecuted the case.
