MS-13 gang member sentenced for dealing heroin with girlfriend in Dallas area, feds say
A 30-year-old El Salvadorian who a federal judge ruled belonged to MS-13 — a notoriously violent transnational street gang with the creed, “kill, rob, rape, control” — was sentenced on Wednesday to more than five years in a federal prison for dealing heroin in the Dallas area.
Williams Josue Fuentes-Argueta, who was in the United States illegally, was indicted in November 2021 and pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin.
He was sentenced Wednesday to 64 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, who also ordered him to forfeit two handguns.
At his sentencing hearing, Starr ruled that Fuentes-Argueta belonged to MS-13.
In plea papers, Fuentes-Argueta admitted he and his co-conspirator, girlfriend Angie Marlyn Valencia, dealt heroin out of an apartment on Royal Lane in Dallas.
Valencia, who also pleaded guilty to engaging in the conspiracy, was sentenced in August to 65 months in federal prison. Starr found that Valencia also met the criteria to be considered an MS-13 gang member.
On Sept. 16, 2021, while Valencia acted as lookout, Fuentes-Argueta sold more than 70 grams of heroin to an undercover Texas Department of Public Safety officer for thousands of dollars in cash, according to federal court records. About two weeks later, the pair teamed up again to sell another 76 grams of heroin to two undercover officers.
On Oct. 12, 2021, officers searched the defendants’ residence and found 20 grams of heroin and two handguns, a 9mm M&P and a .380mm Keltec.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Carrolton Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation.
This story was originally published January 26, 2023 at 10:36 AM.
