PHILADELPHIA, PA — A 23-year-old Philadelphia man was sentenced Tuesday to a decade in federal prison for his role in a fentanyl and cocaine trafficking operation that prosecutors say was fueled by guns and run from a city stash house packed with narcotics.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said Mario Fernandez Nunez received a 120-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Chad F. Kenney after pleading guilty to a slate of drug and firearm offenses tied to a conspiracy that operated from late 2023 into early 2024.
According to court filings and hearing testimony, Fernandez Nunez admitted to conspiring to distribute large quantities of fentanyl and cocaine, repeatedly delivering fentanyl to buyers and collecting cash as part of the operation. He also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and to distributing narcotics within 1,000 feet of a protected location.
Prosecutors said the conspiracy was coordinated by co-defendant Yercy Fernandez Salcedo, who allegedly arranged drug sales by phone and dispatched Fernandez Nunez to complete transactions. As part of the scheme, Fernandez Nunez was placed in charge of a stash house on the 4700 block of Worth Street, where he lived and managed narcotics and proceeds, authorities said.
A federal search warrant executed at the property in February 2024 uncovered six firearms, tens of thousands of packets of fentanyl, a kilogram of cocaine, and drug packaging materials and paraphernalia, according to prosecutors.
Fernandez Salcedo pleaded guilty in July to drug trafficking and gun charges and is awaiting sentencing.
The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shayna Gannone.
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