Portland Area Heroin Dispatcher Sentenced to Federal Prison for Engaging in Drug Trafficking Conspiracy | USAO-OR

PORTLAND, Oregon. – A Portland man with multiple previous drug trafficking convictions was sentenced to federal prison today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of heroin in Oregon and Washington state.

Christian Zepeda-Quezada aka Miguel Agredano, 32, was sentenced to 130 months of federal prison and five years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Zepeda-Quezada was a heroin dispatcher who used several drug dealers to distribute large quantities of heroin in Portland and Vancouver, Washington. In his role as a dispatcher for the human trafficking network, Zepeda-Quezada took heroin orders from customers by phone and arranged for the dealers to deliver the orders directly to the customers. As such, Zepeda-Quezada was protected from direct exposure and had a lower risk of injury than its co-conspirators.

Between January and August 2019, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Clark Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force (CVRDTF) made several controlled heroin purchases from the Zepeda Quezada network before issuing a warrant to search Zepeda-Quezada’s residence in Vancouver and other places received. On August 7, 2019, agents seized distribution quantities of heroin and cocaine from the Zepeda-Quezada residential building. Zepeda-Quezada was arrested during the search and taken into custody.

On August 6, 2019, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a five-count charge indicting Zepeda-Quezada and two co-conspirators – Javier Perez-Alejandre, 22, a California resident, and Angel Umanzor-Ardon, 21, from Portland – with conspiracy to distribute heroin and distribute heroin.

Zepeda-Quezada pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin on June 6, 2021.

Umanzor-Ardon pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to distribute heroin on October 20, 2020 and was sentenced to 27 months of federal prison and five years of supervised release on April 28, 2021.

Perez-Alejandre remains on remand pending a four-day jury trial, which is scheduled to begin on October 18, 2021.

The acting US attorney Scott Erik Asphaug from the District of Oregon announced.

This case was investigated by DEA with the assistance of CVRDTF. It is being prosecuted by the US District Attorney’s Office.

Heroin is a leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States. If you or someone you know has an addiction, please call the Lines for Life Substance Abuse Helpline at 1-800-923-4357 or visit www.linesforlife.org. Telephone support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also text “RecoveryNow” to 839863 every day between 8:00 AM and 11:00 PM Pacific Time.