DAYTON, Ohio - Ernesto Villalobos, 48, of Los Angeles, was sentenced in U.S. District Court here today to 150 months in prison distributing kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine throughout the United States, including in the Southern District of Ohio.

According to court documents, Villalobos served as the hub of a multi-state drug conspiracy for at least three years. The defendant personally packaged and shipped the drugs from his home in Los Angeles. Since at least 2021 until 2024, Villalobos mailed kilograms of drugs to Dayton, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Charleston, West Virginia. The defendant worked with a drug trafficking organization in Dayton to locally traffic the narcotics he shipped.

Packages intercepted by law enforcement between January and April 2024 included three parcels bound for Dayton containing nearly five kilograms of pure methamphetamine and more than four kilograms of fentanyl.

Villalobos was charged federally in March 2025 and pleaded guilty in July 2025.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division and Joseph O. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Detroit announced the sentence imposed by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Walter H. Rice. Deputy Criminal Chief Brent G. Tabacchi and Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth L. McCormick are representing the United States in this case.

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