7 arrested, $4.2 million in fentanyl, methamphetamine seized in Merced County busts
MERCED, Merced County -- Two California Highway Patrol traffic stops in California's Central Valley last week yielded drug busts totaling $4.2 million worth of fentanyl and methamphetamine, authorities said Wednesday.
Seven people were arrested in the two drug busts on April 25 and April 27, which followed CHP units making traffic stops on State Route 99 and Interstate Highway 5 respectively, the CHP said during a press conference in Merced.
On April 25, a CHP officer conducted an enforcement stop on Highway 99. The officer's K-9 signaled for narcotics in the vehicle and a search of the vehicle turned up about 104 pounds of methamphetamine and 25 pounds of fentanyl. The driver and three passengers were arrested and booked into the Merced County Jail on various drug charges including possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl for sale and transportation of the drugs across noncontiguous counties.
On April 27, another CHP K-9 unit stopped another vehicle on Interstate 5, and during a consent search of the vehicle the officer found 15 pounds of fentanyl in the rear passenger floorboards. While waiting for investigators with the Merced Area Gang and Narcotic Enforcement Team (MAGNET) to arrive at the scene, the driver fled from the scene on foot.
A Merced County Sheriff's Office air unit helped the CHP and MAGNET find the driver in the foothills west of the highway and he was arrested. The driver and two passengers were booked on charges of possession of fentanyl for sale, and transportation of fentanyl across noncontiguous counties.
Attorney General Bonta said aside from leading the state Department of Justice's efforts to eradicate the fentanyl scourge, he sees the impact of fentanyl on communities through the eyes of a husband and father of three children.
"There is nothing scarier than the thought of one of my children being hurt or harmed," said Bonta. "Across our state and nation, we're witnessing a devastating rise in young people dying by accidental overdose from fentanyl, and my heart breaks for all parents and loved ones who lost a child, who get that unfathomable, unimaginable call. "
Merced County District Attorney Nicole Silveira said fentanyl overdose deaths in the county are beginning to approach the number of homicide deaths.
"For the last two years in a row there have been 22 deaths each year due to fentanyl," said Silveira. "And so when you're looking at that compared to our murder rates in 2021 we had 28 homicides, and in 2022 we had 35, which is unprecedented for this county. So the overdose rate for fentanyl is starting to rival our homicide rate here in Merced [County], and that is extremely frightening and needs to be taken seriously."
Silveira said the four people arrested on April 25 are ineligible for probation because of the large amount of methamphetamine transported and as charged could face up to 26 years in prison. Silveira said the three defendants arrested on April 27 face up to nine years in local prison.
Since April 2021, Bonta said the DOJ's Bureau of Investigation working with other local law enforcement agencies have seized more than four million fentanyl pills and almost 900 pounds of fentanyl powder, while making more than 200 arrests.