Drug bust nets 1,000 fentanyl pills, 3 pounds of meth in Weld County
The Weld County Drug Task Force broke up a drug trafficking organization that had connections to Mexico. The drug ring was suspected of transporting large quantities of methamphetamine and counterfeit M-30 pills suspected of containing fentanyl into New Mexico before arriving in Greeley.
A Weld County Sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop on Aug. 18 on a vehicle near Highway 66 and Highway 85 in Platteville. A Greeley police K9 officer assisted in the traffic stop and deployed his partner, K9 Odin, who alerted to the odor of narcotics detected on the vehicle.
A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered:
• 115.87 grams of counterfeit M-30 pills suspected of containing fentanyl (approximately 1,000 pills)
• Approximately 3 pounds of Methamphetamine
The driver, New Mexico resident Irene Barela, 58, was arrested and transported to the Weld County Jail where he was booked on two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute a class 1 drug felony and special offender status for transporting felony level amounts of narcotics into Colorado.
The second traffic stop occurred on Sept. 13, where a Weld County Sherriff's Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a pickup truck on Highway 85 in the Town of Gilcrest. A Weld County Sherriff's K9 Deputy deployed his partner, K9 Viper, who alerted to the odor of narcotics detected in the truck.
A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered:
• 440.00 grams of counterfeit M-30 pills suspected of containing fentanyl (approximately 4,000 pills)
• 5.25 pounds of Methamphetamine
The driver of the vehicle, Jorge Garcia-Loya, 36, was arrested and transported to the Weld County Jail and booked on charges of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance a class 1 drug felony, unlawful possession of a controlled substance a class 4 drug felony and speeding 20-40 mph over the limit.
Task force agents served a search warrant for Garcia-Loya's residence in Henderson that same day. Once there, a Weld County Sherriff's K9 Deputy deployed his partner, K9 Dexter, who alerted to the odor of narcotics detected inside the residence.
The following items were located inside Garcia-Loya's residence:
• 14.2 pounds of counterfeit M-30 pills suspected of containing fentanyl (approximately 60,000 pills)
• 26.2 pounds of Methamphetamine