title: “Feds bust Sinaloa Cartel-linked ring using Phoenix to move fentanyl into Kansas” url: “https://www.azfamily.com/2026/09/26/feds-bust-sinaloa-cartel-linked-ring-using-phoenix-move-fentanyl-into-kansas/” author: “Brian Petersheim”
PHOENIX, AZ (AZFamily) — Federal authorities have dismantled a Sinaloa Cartel-linked drug ring that used Phoenix as a pickup point to funnel fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine into Kansas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas announced Tuesday that 15 people have pleaded guilty to charges tied to the operation, which authorities say distributed the drugs across Kansas on behalf of the Mexican cartel.
How the operation worked
Court documents show that every few weeks, traffickers drove from Wichita to Phoenix and other locations to pick up large quantities of drugs before returning to Kansas for distribution.
Ringleader Euriel Talavera, 32, of Wichita, stayed in regular contact with cartel members in Mexico throughout the operation, investigators said.
The case was built by a Homeland Security Task Force that began investigating the ring in December 2022. The Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and Wichita Police Department worked together to trace the pipeline back to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Federal officials say 15 people pleaded guilty in a Sinaloa Cartel drug ring that used Phoenix as a pickup point to funnel fentanyl into Kansas.(United States Drug Enforcement Administration)
A major bust
In one operation highlighted by prosecutors, investigators learned of a plan to bring 160,000 counterfeit Percocet pills laced with fentanyl into Wichita.
Law enforcement reportedly set up surveillance, watched the exchange take place, and intercepted the drugs following a traffic stop.
“HSTF’s mission is to save lives by arresting transnational drug dealers and confiscating the poison they peddle before it reaches our communities,” U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said in a written statement.
Sentences handed down
Talavera pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and was sentenced to 228 months, or 19 years, in federal prison.
Fourteen other people, none from Phoenix, also pleaded guilty in connection with the case, with sentences ranging from probation to more than 11 years in prison:
- Jonathan Gutierrez-Diaz, 30, a Mexican national living in the U.S. illegally: 136 months
- Joe Louis Washington, 33, of Wichita: 120 months
- Aron Garcia-Campa, 36, of Wichita: 96 months
- Alexis Ortega-Ramos, 29, a Mexican national living in the U.S. illegally: 72 months
- Shelan D. Peters, 24, of Wichita: 60 months (firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking)
- Jermel L. Goines, 44, of Wichita: 60 months (firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking)
- Breili Osmani Sermeno-Hernandez, 42, a Guatemalan national living in the U.S. illegally: 48 months
- Heiu Kevin Nguyen, 33, of Wichita: 24 months
- Katia Nevarez, 29, of Wichita: 12 months and one day (money laundering)
- Richard Oral Mathie, 60, of Elmendorf, Texas: pleaded guilty but absconded before sentencing
- Santiago Rodriguez, 25, Angel Garcia, 26, Dominitrix M. Jones, 33, and Alonso Pacheco-Tabullo, 23, all of Wichita: sentenced to probation
It is unclear if anyone from Phoenix was arrested in connection with this case or charged with helping funnel the drugs through the city.