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Jorge Valdez-Rosas, a 22-year-old from San Luis, Arizona, was caught red-handed with a duffle bag containing five kilograms — or 5,000 grams — of the synthetic opioid, said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.
Police began investigating Valdez-Rosas after learning that a drug trafficking organization with ties in the US and Mexico was in the middle of moving large, kilogram-quantities of fentanyl over the border and across the country, the DA said.
With the help of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Montco authorities found out that Valdez-Rosas was tasked with bringing some of that inventory to Upper Merion Township, Steele wrote.
Police surveilled a King of Prussia motel and saw the 22-year-old check in with a large duffle bag on Tuesday, Jan. 31, officials said. On Feb. 1, while walking out of the motel with his bag, Valdez-Rosas was stopped and searched by authorities.
The contents of his duffle field-tested positive for fentanyl, according to the DA.
“Five kilograms, or 5,000 grams of fentanyl, is a very significant quantity of fentanyl, with a street value of more than $1.6 million,” Steele said.
“This quantity of drugs equates to approximately 166,666 individual doses of fentanyl, and by intercepting this delivery of fentanyl into our communities, we have saved countless lives by preventing significant fatal overdoses.”
Valdez-Rosas is charged with drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit the same, and criminal use of a communications facility — all felonies. He remains at the county lockup in Lower Providence in lieu of a $500,000 bail bond, court records show.
Investigators say they've seen evidence on Valdez-Rosas' cellphone that he planned to sell the fentanyl to a third party "on behalf of others."
The District Attorney's Office did not identify the "others," but noted that greater Philly sits at the center of what the DEA calls a "High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area," or HIDTA.
The Liberty/Mid-Atlantic HIDTA, which comprises 11 counties in the Lower Delaware River Valley, "sits within one of the most dangerous and violent regions in the nation," according to the DEA.
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