Two fentanyl traffickers who dealt illegal drugs out of a Fort Worth motel room were recently sentenced to a combined 23 years in federal prison, officials said.

Rico Marion, 26, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 11 years in prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Marion, along with Steven Keys, 28, pleaded guilty in the fall of 2022 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Keys was sentenced in February to more than 12 years in federal prison.

Todd Johnson, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Dallas, said HSI is committed to prosecuting illegal drug dealers.

“We hope these combined sentences send a direct message to the drug traffickers who peddle this poison that HSI will never relent in putting those away who have no regard for our nation’s laws,” Johnson said in the release.

Keys and Marion dealt fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills out of a Fort Worth motel, according to the release. Law enforcement observed an apparent drug sale at the motel in July 2022 and a review of surveillance footage from convenience stores in the area showed Keys dealing drugs out of his vehicle.

Officers arrested Keys and Marion after a confidential source purchased five small blue pills from Keys and turned the evidence over to law enforcement. Officials found around 1,000 fentanyl-laced pills in the motel room and a bag of marijuana in the toilet, according to the release.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Fort Worth Police Department worked together on the investigation.