SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that United States District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani sentenced James Garris, Jr., age 52, to 14 years’ imprisonment, and Emilio Tejeda, age 33, to 57 months’ imprisonment, for fentanyl trafficking offenses. Both men were residents of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, prior to being incarcerated on the instant offenses.
According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, James Garris, Jr. previously pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl that resulted in death. On September 19, 2019, Garris distributed fentanyl to James Tindol, Jr., who subsequently distributed the fentanyl to an individual identified as A.V. Shortly after ingesting the fentanyl, A.V. overdosed and died. Garris served as a drug dealer in a drug trafficking organization run by brothers Edwin Tejeda and Jose Raymer Tejeda.
Emilio Tejeda, a third brother, served as a courier in the drug trafficking organization. Emilio Tejeda previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute between 400 grams and 1.2 kilograms of fentanyl, which is the equivalent of approximately 200,000 to 600,000 potentially lethal individual doses of fentanyl. Emilio Tejeda also forfeited a firearm and ammunition that were seized during the investigation.