Fentanyl pills.Photo: U.S. Attorneys Office/AP/Shutterstock
Jail records confirm that Veronica Marquez-Franco and Jesus Guadalupe Navarro-Perez were booked into the Washington County Jail on Jan. 10.
Both were charged with second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
According to local reports, including those fromABC4andKSL.com, the two defendants were driving in a Jeep Cherokee on Interstate 15 in St. George when deputies stopped them for allegedly making an illegal lane change.
During the stop, a police dog was brought in to conduct a free-air sniff of the exterior of the vehicle, and the animal alerted officers to the presence of illicit substances.
ABC4, citing an arrest affidavit, reports that deputies uncovered a large number of round blue pills; all were marked on either side with an “M” and a “30.”
Based on their experience in the field and their training, the deputies determined the pills were counterfeit, and instead contained pure fentanyl, according to the reports.
It was unclear from either report whether the confiscated pills were actually tested, and what the results of that testing may have been.
Police allege that both suspects have family ties to Sinaloa, Mexico.
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Both Marquez-Franco and Navarro-Perez are being held without bail.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says a fatal dose of fentanyl is small enough tofit on the tip of a pencil— and 1 kilogram can killup to 500,000 people. The drug is now the leading cause of overdose deaths, along with other synthetic opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
source: people.com
