Date: Nov. 13, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Orlando, FL — U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron today sentenced George Pherai-Bogeajis to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. The court also ordered Pherai-Bogeajis to forfeit four vehicles and four firearms used in the offense, along with $867,265 of drug proceeds. Pherai-Bogeajis entered a guilty plea on June 18, 2024. According to court documents, Pherai-Bogeajis was engaged in kilogram-level methamphetamine transactions for years. In March 2024, a co-conspirator was stopped after conducting a pickup from Pherai-Bogeajis’s residence and found to be carrying $149,785 of drug proceeds. On April 9, 2024, the DEA executed a search warrant at Pherai-Bogeajis’s home and seized 48.9 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 5,500 grams of MDMA, more than 2 kilograms of cocaine, 978 grams of fentanyl, hallucinogens, marijuana, oxycodone pills, four firearms, and $717,480 in cash. Additional drugs and two vehicles containing “traps” to conceal drugs and proceeds for transport were located during a search of an address in Ocoee. This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Ocoee Police Department, the Orlando Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dana E. Hill. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
