Four-time convicted drug trafficker sentenced for dealing cocaine and fentanyl

ATLANTA — Mekael Desean Daniels, who has three prior federal drug trafficking convictions, will serve a 292-month prison sentence following his conviction for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl. At the time of his arrest, Daniels was storing 110 kilograms of cocaine and 62 grams of fentanyl at a Buckhead-area condominium building and was attempting to deliver $600,000 of drug proceeds to money launderers working on behalf of a transnational drug trafficking organization.

“Despite three prior federal convictions for drug trafficking, Daniels continued to distribute vast quantities of narcotics in our community and attempted to launder drug money,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Thanks to the determined investigative work of our law enforcement partners, Daniels’s 24-year prison sentence should finally end his criminal career and serves as a stern warning to others who push deadly fentanyl and cocaine.”

“Career criminals who traffic drugs show no regard for the devastation they leave behind,” said Jae W. Chung, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “Let this case serve as a clear warning: drug traffickers can no longer operate with impunity.”

“Daniels was a repeat offender fueling the flow of deadly drugs into our communities,” said Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI and our partners will continue to dismantle these networks and hold traffickers accountable.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: In 2022, Daniels and others conspired to transport cocaine and fentanyl from Mexico to Atlanta, Georgia. Daniels operated a stash house in a condominium building in Buckhead, which he used to supply his network with large amounts of cocaine. At the time of his arrest on December 9, 2022, Daniels was storing 110 kilograms of cocaine that had recently arrived by tractor-trailer from Mexico. Agents also found in his condominium unit 62 grams of fentanyl pressed into pills with the marking for oxycodone, approximately $66,000 in drug proceeds, and a drug ledger documenting $500,000 in transactions. In the condominium garage, agents searched a car linked to Daniels, where they found a bag containing $500,000 and a shoebox containing $100,000, which were proceeds of recent cocaine sales in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

This is Daniels’s fourth federal drug trafficking conviction in this district after prior convictions for possession with intent to distribute cocaine in 1995 and 2000 and for possession with intent to distribute heroin in 2012. As part of his 2000 case, Daniels was also convicted of possessing a firearm while he was a convicted felon. Daniels engaged in the drug trafficking conspiracy charged in this case one year after his release from federal prison for his 2012 conviction.

Earlier today, United States District Judge Steven D. Grimberg sentenced Daniels, 55, of Dallas, Georgia, to serve 24 years, 4 months in prison to be followed by a lifetime sentence of supervised release. Daniels was convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl on March 27, 2025, after he pleaded guilty.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth M. Hathaway and Austin M. Hall, and former Assistant United States Attorney Joshua May, prosecuted the case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to eliminate the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from OCDETF and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta recommends parents and children learn about the dangers of drugs at the following web site: www.justthinktwice.gov.