ATLANTA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Georgia, Northern), published as received.

ATLANTA – Michael Dwayne Banks and Victor Valente-Reynoso, an illegal alien, have each been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for possessing illegal drugs with intent to distribute and possessing firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking crimes.                                                                                                                   

“Our community is safer thanks to the agents and prosecutors who removed thousands of deadly fentanyl pills, nearly a half-dozen firearms, and two dangerous drug dealers from the streets,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “The significant punishment imposed on these pill peddling poison pushers should serve as a warning to other criminals who threaten our public safety and welfare by trafficking fentanyl in north Georgia.” 

“Fentanyl is one of the most lethal drugs our country has ever faced,” said Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “When traffickers choose to deal this poison while carrying firearms, they amplify the threat to our neighborhoods and to law enforcement. This federal sentence removes a dangerous individual from our streets.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: On August 23, 2022, Victor Valente Reynoso, an illegal alien from Mexico, sold 536 fentanyl pills outside a gas station in Clayton County, Georgia. Following that deal, Reynoso and his conspirators arranged to sell 5,000 fentanyl pills at a church parking lot in Fulton County, Georgia. Law enforcement foiled the drug deal and arrested Reynoso, in possession of 4,000 fentanyl pills and 1,000 fake Xanax pills, as well as Banks, who was armed with a loaded handgun to protect the deal. 

Agents later searched Banks’s residence and recovered more fake Xanax pills, blue fentanyl pills, oxycodone, cocaine, and several large bags of marijuana there. Agents also found another loaded handgun and three rifles, including a short barrel machine gun. 

On January 8, 2026, U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones sentenced Michael Dwayne Banks, 31, of Atlanta, Georgia, to 13 years, eight months in prison followed by four years of supervised release. Banks was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on October 9, 2025, after he pleaded guilty.

On July 12, 2023, Judge Jones sentenced Victor Valente-Reynoso, 27, of Acapulco, Mexico, to 10 years and 10 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Valente-Reynoso was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on January 31, 2023, after he pleaded guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dwayne Brown, Jr. and Phyllis Clerk, and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebeca Ojeda and Miguel Acosta, prosecuted the case.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with valuable assistance provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Georgia State Patrol, and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.

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, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.