SB County man sentenced for conspiring to distribute hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills

A San Bernardino County man was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiring with people to distribute hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills throughout the United States, the Department of Justice announced.

Court documents state that on March 17, 2021, George Anthony Manzo, a 37-year-old man from Redlands, used Snapchat to arrange drug deals and communicate with others. One included selling 500 fentanyl pills to an individual.

Manzo reportedly sold approximately 2,000 fentanyl pills to his co-defendant in April 2021. Two months later, in June 2021, a "traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle driven by Manzo’s girlfriend and Manzo was in the front passenger seat," the DOJ stated. The two were traveling to Las Vegas from Phoenix where the pills were collected.

When the vehicles were searched, investigators found around 30,000 pills. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the DEA investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Melanee Smith prosecuted the case.

Manzo and his girlfriend were released from custody while the drug test results were pending. Manzo, his girlfriend and her three children fled the U.S. before Manzo was taken into custody in Tijuana, Mex., before returning to the States in December 2021.

In January 2024, the DOJ said that Manzo pleaded guilty to one count of each conspiracy.

Recently, Manzo was sentenced to 10 years of prison with supervised release afterward.