Three Arrested in San Francisco For Manufacturing, Selling Fentanyl-Laced Pills

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities have arrested three people in San Francisco accused of manufacturing and selling illegal fentanyl, a highly potent opiate.

Federal prosecutors say 39-year-old Kia Zolfaghari, of San Francisco, allegedly had a pill press in his Sunset District apartment he used to make fentanyl-laced pills he sold through an online marketplace as oxycodone.

United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch said Zolfaghari, his wife, 38-year-old Candelaria Dagandan Vazquez, and King Edward Harris II, of Oxnard, were arrested Friday after selling more than 1,500 pills to a person working for law enforcement.

Vazquez, of San Francisco, is accused of conspiring with Zolfaghari to carry out his drug trafficking operation, delivering packages of pills for mailing and accepting payments through her bank account. Harris allegedly brokered sales in a series of recorded calls with the confidential source and hand-delivering two of those purchases.