A Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy stopped a pickup truck for speeding on U.S. Highway 93 near Ash Springs, Nevada, on Oct. 13, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada. A narcotics-detection dog alerted to the vehicle, and deputies searched it, prosecutors said.
Authorities reported finding 13 large storage totes containing vacuum-sealed packages. The seizure included approximately 187 packages of a white crystalline substance weighing about 307.22 kilograms, or roughly 677 pounds, and 13 brick-shaped packages weighing about 14 kilograms, or roughly 30 pounds. Prosecutors said field tests on selected samples indicated methamphetamine and fentanyl, respectively. The substances remain described as suspected drugs in the government’s account.
Francisco Joel Garcia Farias, 26, was charged with possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture containing fentanyl and 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine. The Justice Department identified him as an illegal immigrant in its announcement. The charges are allegations, and the supplied information does not report a plea or court finding.
If convicted, Garcia Farias would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison on each count, followed by five years of supervised release, prosecutors said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah said the 14 kilograms of fentanyl correspond to about seven million potentially lethal doses, using an estimate of two milligrams per dose. Chattah said the quantity could amount to more than twice Nevada’s population. She also put the combined estimated street value of the fentanyl and methamphetamine at about $2 million. Those figures are estimates attributed to the prosecutor; the material does not provide further details about how the dose or street-value calculations were made.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the seizure prevented drugs allegedly intended for distribution from reaching American streets. John A. Condon, an executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations, described the suspected drugs as a serious public-safety threat and said the agency would continue working with local and federal partners on investigations.
The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Task Force partners. Sheriff Derek Foremaster credited deputies’ traffic enforcement and the trained dog with identifying the suspected narcotics and prompting a coordinated response. The account supplied by prosecutors does not provide additional details about the investigation’s origins, the truck’s destination or whether other people are alleged to have been involved.
