It is Orange County, California largest drug bust in nearly 16 years. According to the district attorney’s office, charges have been filed against two purported drug pushers from Buena Park who possessed enough fentanyl to kill 4.7 million people.
Officers recovered 20.5 pounds of fentanyl, 821 pounds of meth, 189.7 pounds of cocaine, and 20.5 pounds of fentanyl pills after stopping a minivan leaving a Buena Park home on March 17.
A lethal dose of fentanyl, according to the district attorney’s office, is as little as 2 milligrams; the two perpetrators had just enough fentanyl to kill an estimated 4.7 million individuals.
“Millions of unsuspecting people have the grim reaper looking over their shoulder and they have no idea how close they actually are to dying from taking a single pill,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
“With fentanyl in an estimated 40 percent of street drugs, it’s not a matter of if but when someone you know and love dies from fentanyl,” the DA added.
Edgar Alfonso Lamas, 36, and Carlos Raygozaparedes, 53, face one felony count of possession of a controlled substance, three felony counts of sale or transportation for sale of a controlled substance, and two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance.
If convicted on all counts, they face a maximum sentence of 37 years. They have pled not guilty, according to the DA’s office, and are being held in detention in lieu of $5 million bail.
