SIOUX FALLS — A federal appeals court has upheld the more than 30-year prison sentence of a man convicted in what authorities describe as one of the largest drug busts in South Dakota history.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the 365-month sentence of Edwin Giovanni Salinas, 47, an El Salvador native who had been living in Los Angeles, following his conviction on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute.
Salinas was found guilty after a jury trial in Aberdeen.
According to court documents, Salinas traveled from California carrying a backpack filled with fentanyl, including about three pounds of pure powder and nearly 50,000 fentanyl pills made to resemble prescription oxycodone. Some of the drugs were marked “CHINA,” and authorities say the fentanyl was sourced from Chinese suppliers and Mexican cartels.
In total, investigators said Salinas was attempting to distribute roughly 16 pounds of fentanyl, with an estimated street value of $2 million. The drugs were believed to be headed for a meeting location at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, with the potential to reach communities across the Midwest.
Authorities said Salinas was riding in a speeding vehicle with California plates around 4 a.m. near the Lake Traverse Reservation when law enforcement stopped the car. The driver had been recruited by Salinas. Officers with the Roberts County Sheriff’s Office and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Law Enforcement discovered and seized the drugs during the stop.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann found the amount of fentanyl involved was enough to kill as many as 500,000 people and called it one of the largest drug seizures in state history. The appeals court upheld those findings, along with an enhanced sentence tied to threats Salinas made against a co-defendant while in custody.
“Case closed,” said U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons. “The incredible vigilance and professionalism demonstrated by these on-duty officers with Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Law Enforcement and the Roberts County Sheriff’s Office unquestionably saved lives.”
The case was investigated by multiple agencies, including Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Law Enforcement, the Roberts County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl remains the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45. The agency says millions of fentanyl-laced pills and thousands of pounds of powder are seized each year, often tied to international trafficking networks.
