Three men recently appeared in federal court to answer criminal complaints charging them with narcotics offenses following operations across metro Atlanta that resulted in the seizure of more than 280 pounds of methamphetamine, over four pounds of fentanyl, and two illegally possessed firearms. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office was among the several local and federal agencies involved in the investigation although details of its part were not spelled out.
On July 21, DEA agents arrested Silvano Mendoza-Valencia in Morrow after he allegedly sold approximately two pounds of methamphetamine to a drug customer. Following his arrest, agents searched his residence and located about 85 pounds of meth and two pounds of fentanyl in his bedroom. The investigation further revealed that Mendoza-Valencia is allegedly an illegal alien from Mexico.
The next day agents stopped Christian Garcia-Esparza in Austell after he allegedly sold more than six pounds of methamphetamine to a drug customer. They searched Garcia-Esparza’s car and located an additional ten pounds of methamphetamine on the floorboard and in a gift bag. Thereafter, agents searched his residence and located approximately 100 pounds of meth scattered throughout the residence and backyard.
That same day, DEA agents searched Robert Louis Burr’s College Park apartment and found Burr next to a kitchen drawer containing two pounds of fentanyl. In the living room, agents allegedly found approximately 30 pounds of methamphetamine in a luggage case, 20 pounds in a trash bag, and two firearms, including a FN57 semiautomatic pistol loaded with armor-piercing ammunition. Burr was previously convicted of multiple felony drug trafficking and weapons offenses and thus was not legally permitted to possess a firearm.