Houston woman imprisoned for attempting to import enough fentanyl to kill 2 million people following HSI Laredo, federal partner investigation

LAREDO, Texas — A Houston woman was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for conspiring to import fentanyl following an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with help from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration in Houston.

On Jan. 11, Monica Mata Vasquez, 49, was sentenced to 136 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release. At the hearing, the judge emphasized the significance of the case, noting that fentanyl is destroying the community and killing people across the country. After a two-day trial, the federal jury deliberated for less than an hour before convicting Vasquez.

According to court documents, on March 10, 2023, Vasquez arrived at the Juarez-Lincoln Port of Entry in Laredo and attempted to enter the United States. She had a suspicious travel itinerary, which caused authorities to refer her to secondary inspection. There, authorities noticed anomalies in her car’s battery. Law enforcement officials removed the battery and found four bundles with a total weight of 4.6 kilograms of fentanyl hidden inside it — an amount with the approximate strength to kill more than 2 million people.

The jury also saw text messages from Vasquez’s phone, which showed she had been coordinating trips with co-conspirators to and from Monterrey into the United States as early as July 2022. The evidence showed Vasquez had driven to Alabama and had conversations about the purchase and installation of car batteries.

Testimony indicated that these messages showed Vasquez was part of an agreement to import and traffic narcotics.

The defense attempted to convince the jury that Vasquez did not know the drugs were inside the car. The jury did not believe those claims and found her guilty of engaging in a conspiracy to import fentanyl.

“It takes only a tiny amount of fentanyl to kill a loved one. Vasquez brought in 4.6 kilos of that dangerous drug from Mexico — enough to kill approximately 2 million people,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani. “She routinely traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, to pick up narcotics, and did it all for money. She prioritized her greed over the well-being of our community. Today’s sentence takes a callous drug transporter off the streets and away from the border and guarantees that Vasquez will no longer profit from the pervasive destruction of fentanyl.”

Vasquez remains in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of Texas Leslie Cortez and Brian Bajew prosecuted the case.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’ largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.