Leader Of Southwest Florida Drug Ring Sentenced To More Than 11 Years Federal Prison

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Genaro Deleon, III (45, Lehigh Acres) to 11 years and 3 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2023. Earlier, co-defendants Michael Lee Faz (44, Labelle), Abel Deleon (45, Labelle), and Genaro Deleon, Jr. (63, Labelle) were sentenced for the same offense. Faz was sentenced to 10 years and 1 month in federal prison, Abel Deleon was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in federal prison, and Genaro Deleon, Jr. was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison. Each of the four defendants had previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

According to court documents, Deleon, III was the leader of a drug ring distributing large quantities of methamphetamine in Lee and Hendry Counties. To hinder law enforcement investigations into the organization, Deleon, III buried and otherwise obscured the organization’s stash of methamphetamine in multiple locations in the woods around his secluded property, which was protected by loose dogs and a network of motion sensing cameras. 

Deleon, III employed his father, Deleon, Jr., and his two uncles, Abel Deleon and Faz, as dealers for the organization who typically made sales to customers and collected the drug proceeds. Over the course of a year, law enforcement made more than nine undercover purchases from the group, yielding hundreds of grams of nearly pure methamphetamine. In October 2021, law enforcement officers arrested the defendants and executed a search warrant at Deleon, III’s house resulting in the additional seizure of multiple firearms.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman.