A California man was arrested for trafficking over 70,000 fentanyl pills from Mexico to Evansville.
According to court documents, in May of 2023, the DEA began an investigation into a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization operating in Mexicali, Mexico, trafficking large quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine. During the investigation, law enforcement officers purchased or intercepted thousands of fentanyl pills shipped or transported by the drug traffickers into Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky.
As part of the investigation, undercover law enforcement officers arranged to purchase 100,000 fentanyl pills and 50 pounds of methamphetamine from a supplier based in Mexicali, Mexico. On August 31, 2023, the Mexican supplier told the undercover officer that his drug courier was leaving from Calexico, California, and was on their way to Evansville with the fentanyl pills.
For the next several days, the Mexican supplier and the undercover officer exchanged messages about the arrival of the courier and how to handle counting the money and the pills. The supplier indicated that the courier would arrive at an Evansville hotel on September 4, 2023.
The undercover officer met the courier in the hotel parking lot, who was later identified as Javier Moreno-Garibaldi. Moreno-Garibaldi agreed to go with the undercover officer to a safe house to count the pills and the money owed for the drugs. Moreno-Garibaldi put the pills, contained in a dog kennel box, into the undercover officer’s car and was arrested without incident.
A search of the box revealed five separate bags containing a large amount of small blue pills marked “M” on one side and “30” on the other, likely counterfeit “M-30” pills containing fentanyl. The field weight of the seized pills was 15.7 pounds or approximately 70,000 pills. According to the DEA, one kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
If convicted, Moreno-Garibaldi faces up to life in federal prison and a fine of up to $10,000,000.
