3 Southern Oregon Drug Traffickers Headed For Federal Prison

MEDFORD, Ore. — In unrelated cases, three separate drug traffickers who were active in Klamath County were all sentenced to federal prison on the same day. The sentencing follows intensive investigations by the Basin Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (BINET), assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in two cases and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in the third.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon confirmed that one of the traffickers was the leader of a Klamath Falls drug trafficking organization. Protecting communities from the devastating effects of illicit drug distribution, the sentences emphasize the commitment of law enforcement agencies to combating drug trafficking in the region.

Drug Trafficker Sentenced To 87 Months

Juan Jessie Martinez-Gil, active from August to September 2021, worked with others to traffic methamphetamine and fentanyl to Southern Oregon from Southern California to Southern Oregon, selling the drugs as counterfeit Oxycodone pills.  During the arrest on September 2, 2021, of Martinez-Gil and several of his associates, law enforcement agencies found and seized over 17 pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of counterfeit Oxycodone pills.

Sentenced by a federal grand jury in Medford later in the same month, Martinez-Gil pleaded guilty on November 1 2023 to distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl and was sentenced to 87 months in prison, with an additional five years’ supervised release.

Drug Trafficker Incarcerated For 84 Months

Following a Klamath Falls investigation by local authorities in 2019, Miguel Espana was found by authorities sitting in the passenger seat of his vehicle near a Klamath Falls motel. They later stopped his vehicle as it departed the lot, and searched it. In the vehicle, they found about 717 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale, a drug ledger, and $758 in cash.

Espana was charged by a jury with one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and pleaded guilty to the charge on October 16, last year. He was subsequently sentenced to 84 months with an extra five years’ supervised release.

Drug Trafficker Gets Federal Prison Sentence Of 51 Months

Blake Anthony Fulleton was arrested by the Klamath Falls Police Department in September 2021 as officers saw him leaving a known drug house in Klamath Falls. Fulleton had several active warrants and attempted to flee the officers, crashing his car into a power pole.

Despite running away, police caught and arrested him, and had a small quantity of methamphetamine on him. In a search of his vehicle, detectives found a loaded pistol, 480 grams of methamphetamine, a small quantity of heroin, and several drug packaging materials.

He was charged by a jury in September 2022 with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon. After pleading guilty on December 11 last year to illegally possessing a firearm, Fulleton was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison plus three years’ supervised release.

The prosecutors who handled the cases on behalf of the District of Oregon were  Assistant U.S. Attorney Marco A. Boccato who prosecuted  Martinez-Gil and Espana, and Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Brassell who obtained the sentence against Fulleton.