A Laredo man is going to federal prison for more than nine years. His name is Rolando Soliz. He is 40. A judge sentenced him on Sept. 1 for his part in a plan to sell fentanyl.

The sentence is 110 months. That works out to nine years and two months. When he gets out, Soliz must serve four years of supervised release. That means the court keeps watch over him even after prison.

U.S. District Judge John A. Kazen gave him that term. Soliz pleaded guilty on Sept. 16, 2025. He admitted his role. This case is over. He is not waiting on a trial.

Fentanyl is a lab made opioid. A tiny bit can stop a person from breathing. The DEA says 2 milligrams can be a deadly dose. That is smaller than a grain of salt. Agents found 24.8 grams of fentanyl in a toilet bowl at Soliz's apartment. Run the DEA number against that weight. It is enough for more than 12,000 deadly doses.

The case began on July 11, 2024. Agents got word that Soliz was moving fentanyl in the Laredo area. They set up outside his apartment and watched.

They saw people come and go. They saw hand to hand deals, court papers say. Then officers pulled over a car near the place. The person in that car had fentanyl. Court papers say the drug came from Soliz at his home.

On July 31, 2024, agents came back with a search warrant. That is when they found the drugs in the toilet. Someone had tried to hide them there. Agents also searched his mother's home as part of the case.

The two searches turned up more than drugs. Agents seized more than $16,000 in cash. They also took 10 guns.

One gun was not like the others. It was a short barreled rifle. Someone had changed it so it would fire like a machine gun.

Soliz was not supposed to have any gun at all. He had four felony convictions before this one. Federal law bars a convicted felon from having guns or bullets. He had 10 of them.

The judge said all of that mattered at the hearing. Judge Kazen said the conviction was for "distributing fentanyl during a time when it was killing more and more people." He also pointed to the four old felony cases on the record.

Laredo has seen a run of fentanyl cases in federal court. El Tejano covered one in July. A 24 year old Laredo man got more than 11 years in that one. His case was tied to a cartel. It was a separate case, and a different man, but the drug was the same. You can read that story here: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/laredo-man-sentenced-to-11-years-for-fentanyl-tied-to-cartel-2/

Court records from 2024 filled in more. A person who had bought fentanyl from Soliz before told investigators about it. That buyer said there were large amounts of the drug at his home, KGNS reported at the time. Officers watched the apartment for two days. They saw him try to sell to more than one person.

Back in 2024, the charge carried up to 20 years in prison. It also carried a fine of up to $1 million. He ended up with 110 months.

This case did not start with a big load in a truck. It started in an apartment. Court papers say the drugs went out the door in small hand to hand sales. The whole amount found was under an ounce.

Soliz is in custody right now. He will stay there until the Federal Bureau of Prisons picks a prison for him. That choice has not been made yet.

The DEA ran the investigation. Three other agencies helped. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives helped. So did the Webb County District Attorney's Office. So did the Webb County Constables Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew P. Hakala-Finch handled the case for the government.