Southwest Florida family members sentenced for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine

Three LaBelle men were sentenced to federal prison for their role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 44-year-old Michael Lee Faz was sentenced to 10 years and one month in federal prison. Abel Deleon, 45, was sentenced to seven years and eight months imprisonment and 63-year-old Genaro Deleon Jr. was sentenced to five years and 10 months.

Genaro Deleon III, 45, is a fourth co-defendant and will be sentenced in January of 2023. Each of the four had previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Deleon III was the leader and based his drug distribution organization out of his Lehigh Acres home.

“In an unsuccessful attempt to thwart law enforcement investigations into his organization, Deleon, III buried the organization’s stash of methamphetamine in multiple locations in the woods around his secluded property, which was patrolled by his aggressive dogs and a network of motion sensing cameras,” according to the press release.

Deleon III employed his father, Deleon Jr. and his two uncles, Abel Deleon and Faz, as dealers for the organization, responsible for making sales to customers and collecting the drug proceeds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Over the course of a year, law enforcement made at least nine undercover purchases from the organization yielding hundreds of grams of nearly pure methamphetamine.

The four men were arrested in Oct. 2021, which resulted in the seizure of multiple guns.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office.