Man sentenced to 244 years for distributing mass amounts of drugs

Published on May 10, 2023

A Weld County man was sentenced last week to more than 200 years in prison on Friday for his role in a major drug trafficking organization in Greeley.

In March, a jury convicted Jose Gonzalez-Victoria, 58, of the following 18 charges:

• MONEY LAUNDERING (2 Counts)

• CONSPIRACY - CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES - SCHEDULE I OR II - 14- 225 GRAMS (7 counts)

• CONSPIRACY - CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES - SCHEDULE I OR II - MORE THAN 225 GRAMS (5 counts)

• DISTRIBUTION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE - SCHEDULE I OR II (3 counts)

• CONSPIRACY - CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES (1 count)

The Weld County Drug Task Force began a wiretap investigation into the defendant’s drug trafficking organization between May of 2020 and August of 2020.

During the investigation, it was determined that the defendant was regularly receiving large shipments of narcotics from the greater Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Denver metro areas.

The defendant was observed completing transactions for multiple ounces of cocaine, pounds of methamphetamine, and thousands of pills containing fentanyl.

During the investigation, law enforcement intercepted 88 pounds of methamphetamine as it was traveling north on Weld County Road 49 on its way to the defendant.

“We’ll truly never know the negative extent and even deadly impact this man has had on our community,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia said. “It’s simple – he made a profit off feeding other’s addictions and by taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable people in our community. The amount of poison he spread on our streets, and the collateral damage this man has caused is sickening, and we absolutely won’t tolerate this in Weld County.”

On April 28th, 2023, Weld County District Court Judge Vincente Vigil handed down a prison sentence of 244 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia and Deputy District Attorney Daniel Skelton prosecuted this case.