Drug Dealer Sentenced For Role In 2011 Fatal Shooting After Cocaine Deal In Reston Fails

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Saul Pacheco Mejia, 55, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 20 years in prison for his role in the 2011 fatal shooting of a man at a Reston apartment, according to court documents.

Mejia and two associates had made an appointment to meet the victim in Reston on Dec. 12, 2011 for a cocaine transaction, according to police. Rather than buying the drugs, the victim tried to steal and run away with them. Although Mejia was not armed, his associates were. They chased the man and eventually shot and killed him, according to court documents.

Following the shooting, Meija and his associates fled to Honduras.

In late 2019, law enforcement officers tracked down Mejia and arrested him in Texas, according to authorities.

On July 15, 2021, Meija pleaded guilty in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria to "aiding and abetting the use of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking conspiracy, causing death, and abetting the use of a firearm in connection with a drug conspiracy resulting in death," according to court documents.