Man who carried drugs to Portland for Mexican cartel gets 12 years

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A 30-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for his role in trafficking fentanyl that led to the overdose death of a Hillsboro man in 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Oregon.

Gerardo Corrales-Aragon pleaded guilty on March 6, 2023 following a March 16, 2021 indictment by a federal grand jury in Portland. Corrales-Aragon and four other people faced 13 charges related to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and other related offenses in that 2021 indictment.

According to court documents, the parents of a 25-year-old man was found in their Hillsboro home on Feb. 3, 2021, after the man had taken a counterfeit Oxycodone pill with fentanyl.

Investigators said they uncovered a four-person drug distribution chain responsible for his death. Corrales-Aragon was identified as the person who brought the counterfeit pills from California to the Portland area.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Corrales-Aragon was working with Mexican drug cartels.

Corrales-Aragon was arrested on Feb. 23, 2021 as he was leaving a local hotel. Investigators said they found 4,000 fentanyl pills and six pounds of methamphetamine in his backpack and a loaded 9mm “ghost gun” in his waistband.

Corrales-Aragon admitted to selling counterfeit pills to the Hillsboro man’s drug supplier and possessing a gun while trafficking drugs.

As part of the plea deal, Corrales-Aragon agreed to a sentencing enhancement because his fentanyl distribution resulted in a death. Following with his 150 months in federal prison, he must also complete five years’ of supervised release.