A Nampa man will serve 9 years in prison after being convicted of trafficking fentanyl pills linked to the overdose death of a Lewiston man.
According to a press release, 29-year-old Jaycob Gonzales, of Nampa, was sentenced after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute 40 Grams or More of Fentanyl. United States District Judge Thomas Rice imposed a sentence of 108 months imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.
In March of 2022, officers responded to a 911 call for an unconscious male at a home in Lewiston, Idaho. Upon arriving, officers found a man deceased from a fentanyl overdose. There was a piece of tinfoil with a fentanyl pill next to the body. Officers examined the man’s phone and found the last text messages. The messages described a drug transaction and were sent from a phone that belonged to Gonzales.
In April of 2022, Investigators arranged controlled buys of fentanyl pills from Gonzales’s residence in Clarkston, Washington.
Court documents say that on May 22, 2022, a traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle Gonzales was driving with two young children in the backseat. Investigators searched the trunk and located a small safe, disguised as a dictionary, with more than 1,400 fentanyl pills inside. Gonzales told detectives he was returning home after a trip to Spokane to purchase 1,000 fentanyl pills from his supplier. Gonzales also told detectives he’s been selling fentanyl for about two months and made regular trips to Spokane to re-supply. Additionally, Gonzales admitted selling drugs to the man who died of a fentanyl overdose.
The case was investigated by the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force and the Quad Cities Drug Task Force.
