From the State’s Attorney:
MOTHER, SON SENTENCED TO A COMBINED THIRTY YEARS IN THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS FOR DELIVERY AND POSSESSION OF FENTANYL
McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi L. Freese announces that Gloria Gastelum, 55, and her son German Vargas, 34, both from Tucson, Arizona, have plead guilty to intent to deliver and the possession of fentanyl.
German Vargas, 34, and his mother Gloria Gastelum, 55.
On October 23, 2025, Gastelum was sentenced to seventeen years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the Possession with Intent to Deliver Fentanyl, a Class X felony.
Previously, on October 14, 2023, Vargas was sentenced to thirteen years for Possession of Fentanyl, also a Class X felony. Both entered negotiated pleas of guilty before the Honorable Judge Mark Gerhardt before being sentenced.
In May of 2024, members of the McHenry County Narcotics Task Force received a tip from the Drug Enforcement Agency on the possible delivery of a large amount of fentanyl to Illinois.
Over the next couple of months, the task force members uncovered an expected delivery leaving Arizona and expected to arrive somewhere in Illinois in early August.
Investigative efforts allowed them to trace the car, and a traffic stop was made on August 7, 2024, in Marengo, Illinois.
Vargas and Gastelum were the only individuals in the car.
A subsequent search of the vehicle located twelve bundles of pills that were later tested and confirmed to be fentanyl.
Upon release, both Gastelum and Vargas will be placed on Mandatory Supervised Release for a period of eighteen months.
State’s Attorney Freese commends the members of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office that continue to work tirelessly to combat the delivery of controlled substances into McHenry County, and all of Illinois. “This was a huge win for our Sheriff’s Office and especially the Narcotics Division.
“We won’t stop fighting to keep poison out of our county and state,” Freese stated.
These cases were successfully prosecuted by First Assistant Ashur Y. Youash..
