A Colombian fentanyl trafficker, who was scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 1, 2019, pleaded guilty earlier today to drug trafficking and money laundering charges as the leader and organizer of an international continuing criminal enterprise while incarcerated in Quebec, Canada. The enterprise involved distributing fentanyl and other similar substances from Canada and China into the United States where some of those drugs resulted in 15 overdoses including 11, which caused serious bodily injuries, and four, which resulted in fatal overdoses.

Daniel Vivas Ceron, 38, of Colombia, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alice R. Senechal in Fargo, North Dakota, to continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and controlled substance analogues resulting in serious bodily injury and death and money laundering. Vivas Ceron faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison. The date of sentencing has not been set.

At the plea hearing, Vivas Ceron admitted that between 2013 and 2017, Chinese sources of supply shipped several hundred pounds of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues to the United States and Canada. Vivas Ceron and members of his conspiracy imported these opioids into the United States and distributed them to their customers around the country. Vivas Ceron ran his drug trafficking organization from a jail cell in Canada, and he concealed his identity to facilitate the conspiracy by using aliases, encrypted WICKR accounts, and numerous email addresses. Vivas Ceron and his co-conspirators’ distribution in Canada and the United States resulted in 15 overdoses in North Dakota, Oregon, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, including four fatal overdoses, one of which was Grand Forks resident 18-year-old Bailey Henke.

“From a Canadian jail cell, Daniel Vivas Ceron directed a deadly drug ring that fueled the opioid epidemic and took the lives of four Americans,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. “Today’s guilty plea brings some measure of justice for the victims and families that fell prey to Vivas Ceron’s dangerous organization and its tragic track record of spreading addiction and abuse.”

“Ultimate justice can seem elusive in a case with such a wide swath of destruction. The defendant and his co-conspirators built themselves an organization that made them into regional, national and international merchants of death, and today’s guilty plea is an important milestone in the quest for justice on behalf of those who died and those who were injured by the defendant’s ruinous quest for profits,” said U.S Attorney Wrigley. “I want to personally commend the team of prosecutors and investigators who worked so ably across the nation and globe to make today’s guilty plea possible. We will work assiduously to secure a sentence that reflects the light of justice on the far-reaching damage done to innumerable victims, families and communities,”

“Daniel Vivas Ceron’s heinous crimes have caused unthinkable pain and anguish for dozens of people in Oregon and far beyond, including four victims who lost their lives to fatal overdoses,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “At a time when our country desperately tries to free itself from the painful grip of the opioid crisis, criminals like Ceron and his more than 20 co-defendants are seeking to profit off addiction and death. The tragic irony of crime is that while Ceron will continue to live out his life in prison or beyond, four of his victims will not. The damage he caused is permanent. We cannot forget that.”

“My heart goes out to the friends and families of those who lost their lives as a result of the greed and selfishness of all of the individuals involved in this case,” said Special Agent in Charge Brad Bench of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle, Washington. “The amount of cooperation between HSI and our state, federal, and international partners was invaluable to halting the deadly actions of this complex drug organization. While we will never know how many lives are saved because of our efforts, we hope we are able to provide just a small bit of peace to the families whose lives are forever changed as a result of the offender’s careless actions.”

“The Portland Police Bureau is fully committed to working with our local, state and federal partners to combat the illegal distribution and trafficking of deadly opioids in our communities,” said Commander Art Nakamura of the Portland Police Bureau Tactical Operations – Drugs and Vice in Portland, Oregon. “The Police Bureau, along with our partners, strive to keep our community members safe from these drug traffickers who sell these deadly drugs in our neighborhoods throughout our country. With this partnership, we will hold those responsible for distributing these deadly drugs accountable.”

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