MARICOPA, AZ (AZFamily) — A Maricopa woman learned Thursday that she will spend more than two decades in prison for her role in distributing fentanyl that killed a Texas teenager three years ago.
Pamela Esquivias, 25, was sentenced to nearly 22 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl.
Prosecutors say the case is tied to the death of a 16-year-old girl in Flower Mound, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. The teen died in August 2023 after taking a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl.
An investigation into her death identified Esquivias as the supplier, who distributed hundreds of thousands of blue M-30 fentanyl pills from Arizona to multiple states, including Texas.
The investigation also led authorities to Aaron Jay Perez, 29, of Dallas, who was the distributor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Perez sold fentanyl and large amounts of marijuana and cocaine.
Perez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
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