Arizona woman arrested for hauling $2.6 million of suspected fentanyl-laced pills into Colorado
A 20-year-old woman from Arizona was recently arrested on Colorado's Western Slope after 60 pounds of pills were found inside her car during a traffic stop.
Police believe the pills are counterfeit Oxycontin and probably contain fentanyl. According to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office, the estimated 222,360 pills, weighing 59.64 pounds collectively, are worth $2,668,320 on the street.
Leslie Lopez-Rojas and two accomplices, Christopher Daniel Gaytan Adriano and Consuelo Stephanee Pena, also from the Phoenix area, were arrested.
The Garfield County Sheriff's Office did not identify the accomplices and has not stated when the traffic stop happened. But Lopez-Rojas was advised Thursday of several charges filed against her, including importing a schedule II controlled substance into the state, a class 1 drug felony.
A judge set Lopez-Rojas's bond at $1 million cash.
RELATED Denver metro area seen as distribution point for fentanyl (2022)
In a press release, the sheriff's office credited its deputies, along with investigators with the Garfield County SPEAR (Special Problem Enforcement and Response) Task Force, with pulling over the car on Interstate 70 near Parachute and discovering the contraband.
A GCSO deputy saw Lopez-Rojas's vehicle fail to use a turn signal when changing lanes, Lt. Brent Baker told CBS News Colorado. Her vehicle then tailgated a semi, prompting the traffic stop.
"The deputy stated that it was a car hauler tractor trailer," Baker wrote in an email, "and that the vehicle was so close that it looked like it was being towed by the truck."
The blue M-30 pills found in the vehicle were sent to a U.S. Drug Enforcement laboratory for testing. Results are usually not known for several weeks, Baker said.
RELATED Denver DA charges California man with fentanyl distribution resulting in death
The DEA seized a record 79.5 million fentanyl pills in 2023. On average, seven out of every 10 pills seized contain a lethal dose of fentanyl, per the agency's website.
Garfield authorities are continuing to investigate Lopez-Rojas's illicit activity.
