Bust takes 15 lbs. of meth and 2,000 fentanyl pills off the streets » Albuquerque Journal

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Copyright © 2019 Albuquerque Journal

The drug-smuggling pipeline from Arizona to Southeast Albuquerque was described by one defendant as a “family business.”

Two weeks ago, during an initial undercover buy at a Eubank NE parking lot, a sample pound of methamphetamine and 900 tablets of fentanyl were delivered in a yellow shoebox so bright that National Guard surveillance officers could easily spot it as they watched from the air.

Before the bust by state and federal agents last Thursday, one of the alleged “principals” took an Uber car to deliver the stash – a suitcase of 13 additional pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds more fentanyl pills.

Details of what State Police described as a “large-scale drug trafficking” operation were laid out in court testimony and criminal filings on Monday. A federal magistrate judge in Albuquerque detained two of three people charged in the monthlong joint investigation by the FBI and New Mexico State Police. A third defendant is at large.

“As a result of this investigation, approximately 15 pounds of methamphetamine were seized, along with more than 2,000 counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl. The synthetic drug fentanyl is now the No. 1 drug involved in overdose deaths in America, having surpassed heroin in 2016,” State Police said in a news release.

State Police estimated the street value of the narcotics seized at about $580,000. The U.S. National Guard Joint Counterdrug Task Force also assisted in the investigation.

Karla Margarita Pena, 30, of Albuquerque, and Guillermo Cruz Rodriguez, 38, a Mexican national living in Phoenix, were arrested Thursday on charges of distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine. A third defendant, Marysol Pena, of Phoenix, has not yet been arrested. She was described as a “homemaker” in a 2017 federal sentencing document related to her sister, Karla.

At the time of the arrests in Albuquerque, Karla Pena was on supervised release for a 2016 conviction of possession with intent to distribute heroin, federal records show.

Rodriguez has three prior illegal entry charges in Arizona, and prior arrests for failing to provide identification to a police officer, burglary and traffic offenses.

During a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry H. Ritter on Monday, a defense attorney portrayed Rodriguez as a bystander who may have unwittingly helped in a drug deal.

Investigators in New Mexico and Arizona believe Rodriguez also may be known as “El Cuando,” a man who allegedly told undercover drug agents in Arizona that he could get “tens of thousands” of fentanyl pills and several dozen pounds of methamphetamine.

Marysol Pena

Marysol Pena, Karla’s sister, has a 2015 “dangerous drug” felony conviction in Arizona that involved the seizure of $219,910 in cash, about 14 pounds of methamphetamine and a firearm, according to federal records.

The link to Southeast Albuquerque came after the FBI learned in late December that Karla Pena, while on federal probation, was allegedly selling fentanyl to a member of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico prison gang who had been recently released from prison, according to federal records.

Pena’s sister Marysol and Rodriguez are alleged to have transported the initial methamphetamine sample and 900 fentanyl pills from Phoenix to Albuquerque and, with Karla, sold the drugs to the State Police undercover agent on Jan. 15.

Later that day, a State Police marked unit on Interstate 40 stopped Marysol’s 2017 White Nissan Altima traveling west back to Arizona. She and Rodriguez were in the car. A State Police officer asked for their identification but made no arrests at the time.

Marysol wasn’t present last week when the final drug sale was to occur in a room rented at a downtown Albuquerque motel.

Karla Pena called an Uber to take her and a suitcase of methamphetamines and fentanyl pills to the motel. Rodriguez followed in another car.

Once there, they were placed under arrest, testified FBI Agent Bryan Acee during Monday’s detention hearing of the two defendants.

“This was, in my experience, the first time seeing someone take an Uber to a drug deal,” he added.

Acee testified that agents who executed search warrants at Pena’s apartment recovered 200 to 300 more fentanyl pills and another pound of methamphetamine.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Marysol Pena is asked to contact the State Police office in Albuquerque at (505) 841-9256 and chose the option for dispatch.