Spring Valley Siblings Accused Of Drug Trafficking Get Prison Time

SPRING VALLEY, NY — Two local brothers accused of trafficking fentanyl were sentenced last week to five years in federal prison.

The brothers, Jonathan Alvarez, 29, and Edwin Alvarez, 30, of Spring Valley, will be on supervised release for three years after they serve their five year sentences, court records show.

They were sentenced in U.S. District Court on Sept. 11.

Each brother previously pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm during, and in relation to, a drug trafficking crime.

Spring Valley police said they were notified of drug trafficking involving the brothers in the area of Tallman Place and Lawrence Street in the summer of 2023.

For months, local police and the New York State Police Troop F Violent Gang Narcotics Enforcement Team collaborated in investigating the brothers.

Police in December 2023 executed a search warrant. Investigators found “numerous” fentanyl pills disguised as M30 oxycodone hydrochloride pills, firearms, ammunition, a bullet proof vest, and cash, according to police.

The brothers were arrested and later released on their own recognizance.

Around March 2024, police responded to the area of Tallman Place and Seabring Street after an officer heard gunfire, and police found spent shell casings and bullet holes. Another search warrant led to the discovery of more firearms, ammunition, and M30 pills, police said.

In February 2025, the brothers were taken into custody on federal narcotics and firearm-related charges, according to police.

In a sentencing memorandum to the court, defense attorney Kerry A. Lawrence wrote that substance abuse was a factor.

“Edwin and Jonathan Alvarez’s trajectory from finance professionals to struggling addicts to low-level distributors, which ultimately led to their illegal use of a firearm, was not rooted in criminal intent, but the desperation of severe substance abuse,” Lawrence wrote.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Arad wrote in a memorandum that the government recognizes that the defendants reported suffering from addiction.

“But addiction is no excuse for dealing fentanyl … While many addicts commit crimes, the defendants’ conduct was particularly dangerous. That the defendants committed these acts despite their reported intelligence and familial support bespeaks a criminal inclination born of something more than addiction.”

The court recommended that both brothers participate in a substance abuse program while in prison, federal documents show.