CLEVELAND — A 37-year-old Cleveland man is facing federal charges for allegedly selling fentanyl that caused the deaths of three people in the area.
Prosecutors on Friday issued a five-count indictment against Reyes John Sanchez-Borrero, whose prior criminal history includes convictions for involuntary manslaughter and drug trafficking. The defendant is accused of selling fentanyl last May to two people who later died after overdosing on the drugs, and more than two months later another victim was killed after officials say they, too, ingested narcotics obtained from Sanchez-Borrero.
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According to Cuyahoga County court records, Sanchez-Borrero was actually behind bars not long before both transactions. His criminal history stems from a 2006 incident where he and two others brutally assaulted a man named Homobono Medina. The trio later pleaded guilty to attempted murder and Sanchez-Borrero served seven years in prison, but in 2019, Medina died, and all three were subsequently re-arrested for murder less than two years later.
Even with the homicide charge, Judge John J. Russo ordered Sanchez-Borrero held on just $20,000 bond, which he posted on April 29, 2021. The DOJ claims the first fatal sale of fentanyl occurred on May 4, 2022, and just six days later law enforcement searched Sanchez-Borrero's West 94th Street home and apparently found guns and ammunition, things he is not allowed to possess due to his prior felony convictions.
Sanchez-Borrero was then taken back into custody, but on May 23 was freed after he and his co-defendants reached an agreement that saw them plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in exchange for receiving a probation sentence. Sanchez-Borrero also posted a separate bond related to the new weapons charges, and on June 22 Russo signed off on the county probation department's recommendation that the defendant be allowed to leave his home between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day.
Less than four weeks later, Sanchez-Borrero allegedly sold the fentanyl that killed the third victim. The gun charges were subsequently combined with the federal case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Lewis will prosecute Sanchez-Borrero's case for the DOJ. A court date was not given.