United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LAREDO, Texas – A 34-year-old man has been ordered to prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl that resulted in the death of another person.

Rene Antonio Melendez pleaded guilty June 29.

U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana ordered Melendez to serve 252 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. 

On March 11, 2023, law enforcement responded to a hotel in Laredo after receiving a report of an unresponsive man. The victim’s friend told authorities the man had consumed a substance known as “White China” and stopped breathing. 

Authorities recovered a baggie containing fentanyl from the hotel room. The medical examiner later determined the victim died from acute fentanyl toxicity. 

The victim’s friend told authorities he had driven the victim to a location off San Bernardo Avenue to meet an unknown individual. Text messages revealed the victim had arranged to purchase $80 worth of drugs through Melendez, who directed him to that location. 

Cellphone records, witness interviews, and historical cell-site data established that Melendez was the individual who supplied the victim with fentanyl. 

Later that day, Melendez sent the victim a text message asking about the drugs. Shortly afterward, the victim’s friend called 911 to report the victim was not breathing. 

Melendez has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Ann Cortez prosecuted the case.

This operation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF South Texas comprises agents and officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Department of Transportation; IRS Criminal Investigation; Interpol/Department of State; and Naval Criminal Investigative with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas leading the prosecution.