PORTLAND, Ore. — A 25-year-old Mexican national has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy that operated in the Portland metropolitan area, the Oregon Coast, and Olympia, Washington, and was connected to the killing of a man over a drug debt.
Fernando Adolip Cruz-Lerma was sentenced Wednesday to 168 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. A federal judge also ordered him to pay more than $3,000 in restitution.
According to court records, Cruz-Lerma participated in a drug trafficking conspiracy during April and May 2019. Federal prosecutors said that in April 2019, he transported a victim from Washington state to Clackamas County because the victim owed money to members of the drug trafficking organization.
The victim was later killed by members of the conspiracy in connection with the unpaid drug debt. Prosecutors said Cruz-Lerma helped abandon the victim’s body along a rural road in Clackamas County after the killing.
Authorities also said Cruz-Lerma distributed approximately two pounds of methamphetamine in May 2019 before returning to Mexico the following month.
The investigation continued for several years. In May 2023, Cruz-Lerma’s co-conspirator, Marcos Alonso Castillo-Bernal, was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison. Shortly after that sentencing, Cruz-Lerma flew from Mexico to Calgary, Canada, where he was arrested by Canadian authorities on a federal arrest warrant issued in Oregon.
A federal grand jury in Portland returned a superseding indictment against Cruz-Lerma on June 6, 2023, charging him with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute controlled substances, as well as distribution of methamphetamine. He pleaded guilty on April 7, 2026, to conspiring to distribute and distributing controlled substances.
U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon announced the sentencing.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Portland Police Bureau, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force, and the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Homicide and Violent Crimes Unit. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs coordinated with Canadian authorities to secure Cruz-Lerma’s arrest and his extradition to the United States in July 2024.
The Clackamas County Interagency Task Force, led by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, focuses on disrupting drug trafficking organizations operating in Clackamas County and surrounding areas. The task force includes personnel from the Canby Police Department, Oregon State Police, the FBI, and the Oregon National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, with support from the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program and the county’s Public Safety Levy.
Federal officials said the prosecution was also conducted as part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, a multi-agency effort aimed at investigating and prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, drug trafficking networks, and other violent criminal enterprises operating in the United States.
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