Jose Menendez-Murray (dob 9/5/83) has been given 20 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 7 years. The Honorable Lynne Jones gave him 15 years for a Fentanyl Trafficking case and a consecutive 5 years for a Pandering case.
The defendant was initially arrested by detectives with the Reno Police Regional Narcotics Unit in 2024, after the team organized multiple controlled drug buys from him. After learning Menendez-Murray was coming back from California after a resupply, he was stopped by law enforcement when he came back into Nevada. A search found 91 grams of fentanyl, 1.3 grams of methamphetamine, and 8.2 grams of heroin. That equates to 3,640,000 doses of fentanyl, 6 doses of methamphetamine, and 82 doses of heroin.
While awaiting sentencing for the drug case, Menendez-Murray was arrested in connection with a pandering case by the Human Exploitation and Recovery Operations Unit. Law enforcement met with a victim of human trafficking who identified one of Menendez-Murray’s other girls, known as SF. The unit set up an undercover meeting with SF, who was detained and questioned about the defendant. Subsequent surveillance was set up to see where SF would go after being questioned, and detectives tracked her to a home that they later learned Menendez-Murray was staying at. A search of her phone also uncovered multiple text messages regarding the defendant having SF engage in prostitution, including “I told you to up your rates” and “well come down and give me the money.”
DDA Michael Vieta-Kabell represented the State in the trafficking case, while DDA Darcy Cameron represented in the pandering case.
