Man charged with selling fentanyl to undercover federal agent on SW Side

A man has been charged with selling nearly a kilogram of fentanyl to an undercover federal agent earlier this year in the West Elsdon neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

A confidential source cooperating with law enforcement told Homeland Security Investigations that 40-year-old Javier Gonzalez-Loza was dealing drugs, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

An undercover agent made contact with Gonzalez-Loza and he provided the agent with sample amounts of heroin and fentanyl in January in a grocery store parking lot near 59th and Pulaski, prosecutors said. The agent then arranged a larger deal for the following month.

The agent met with Gonzalez-Loza in February in an alley in the 5600 block of South Kilbourn, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. During that meeting, Gonzalez-Loza sold the agent 998.7 grams of fentanyl for $40,000.

Gonalez-Loza was arrested May 16 as he was exiting a Southwest Side home, prosecutors said. He has since been charged with one count of distribution of a controlled substance.

He made his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday and Magistrate Judge Daniel G. Martin ordered him held in custody.

Gonzalez-Loza was deported to Mexico in 2013 after a criminal conviction, but he was living in Chicago at the time of his arrest, prosecutors said. His next court appearance was scheduled for June 27.