Feds Bust Multi-Million-Dollar Opioid-Drug Ring in Utah
[color=rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65098)]Fed[/color][color=rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65098)]eral authorities in Utah say they've busted a multimillion-dollar opioid-drug ring based in a suburban Salt Lake City basement, underscoring how a small operation can quickly turn out hundreds of thousands of potentially fatal fentanyl pills.[/color]
![[Image: ?url=%2Fcmsmedia%2Fa4%2F4a853fc5fefcf084...dpress.jpg]](https://www.usnews.com/dims4/USNEWS/06d3c10/2147483647/resize/300x%3E/quality/85/?url=%2Fcmsmedia%2Fa4%2F4a853fc5fefcf0845c1a9ac58570c9%2F6977FE_PR_080923associatedpress.jpg)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal authorities in Utah say they've busted a multimillion-dollar opioid-drug ring based in a suburban Salt Lake City basement, underscoring how a small operation can quickly turn out hundreds of thousands of potentially fatal fentanyl pills to eager buyers.
U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said Wednesday that the seizure of nearly 500,000 pills ranks among the largest in the country.
He says the group who met at an eBay call center bought drugs from China and pressed them into fake prescription drugs sold online.
Authorities say the drugs were especially dangerous because they were manufactured to look like prescription pain pills, so users would not have realized they were taking the more powerful fentanyl — the drug blamed for the death of entertainer Prince.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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'This is a big one,' feds announce Utah drug bust that goes up cartel chain
(KUTV) Two-dozen suspects are now facing federal drug charges after a coordinated law-enforcement strike on an alleged international drug cartel operating in Salt Lake County.
U.S Attorney for Utah John Huber was flanked by top brass from several police departments and the DEA, FBI, and U.S. Marshall Service to announce the bust at a news conference Friday morning.
“There’s more out there, but this is a big one,” Huber said. “If you are a gang member, know this, you think you are targeting us, well, we are targeting you”
Federal indictments list a narrative that details the involvement of the 24 defendants who were taken into custody along with the seizure of 17 guns, and 40-pounds of meth.
Court documents outline several locations, including West Jordan, Murray, West Valley City, and Salt Lake City as points of operations for the drug ring. In March, federal agents intercepted a drug sale of an estimated $14,000 that was set to happen at a Trax platform in Murray.
Law enforcement sources confirm there were coordinated raids on multiple locations in the county within the last few weeks.
DEA district agent in charge Brian Besser said the ring was operating like a business with supply chains and sales territory.
“Drug traffickers always hammer their problems on the streets within our communities through violence,” Besser said. “Drugs and gangs go hand in hand, and one facilitates the other.”
Besser described the arrests as “swinging the bat as hard as we can.”
The bust led federal authorities to Raul Enrique Lizarraga Lopez, who goes by the street name “Maestro.” He is believed to be a key player in the drug cartel that ships drugs from Mexico to Utah.
“Maestro” is currently in police custody in California, but may be brought to Utah to face charges.
While the bust is an accomplishment for police, several chiefs said at the news conference that they are concerned about who will try to take the place of the now-arrested drug trafficking suspects.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said the void will always be filled until the ‘appetite’ for drugs is eliminated.
One of the key operating points for the drug ring was at an unsuspecting West Jordan home on West Georges Circle. 2News spoke to neighbors who said the home where the suspects lived is now vacant, but they did see expensive cars coming and going from the house at all hours for several months.
“It makes me real angry, it’s just stupidity,” Neighbor Edgar Marquez said. “They don’t think about anyone but themselves, and their money. They don’t think about everybody else’s families.”
The defendants’ cases will be handled in the federal court in Salt Lake City.
Feds bust multi-million-dollar opioid-drug ring in Utah
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal authorities in Utah said Wednesday they've busted a multimillion-dollar opioid-drug ring based in a suburban Salt Lake City basement, underscoring how a small operation can quickly turn out hundreds of thousands of potentially fatal fentanyl pills to buyers all over the country.
The seizure of nearly 500,000 pills ranks among the largest in the country, U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said Wednesday. The group who met working at eBay bought drugs from China and pressed them into fake prescription drugs sold online, Huber said.
"What disturbs me is people can so easily get into this business and exploit it for their profit," he said.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)]News Channel[/color]
The drugs were especially dangerous because they were manufactured to look like prescription pain pills, he said. Users could have overdosed more easily because they didn't realize they were taking the more powerful fentanyl — the drug blamed for the death of entertainer Prince.
Officials believe they can trace 8,000 drug shipments to buyers around the country back to the operation in the upscale suburb of Cottonwood Heights, Huber said. Investigators say it made $2.8 million in less than a year.
Authorities unveiled an 11-count indictment filed against six people accused of participating in an operation that first came to light in November with the arrest of 27-year-old Aaron Shamo, the group's suspected ringleader.
If convicted on the first count alone, knowingly engaging in a criminal enterprise, Shamo could face up to life in prison.
His lawyer Greg Skordas could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors now say he had a partner, Drew Wilson Crandall, 30, who was arrested in Hawaii in early May. Crandall's lawyer Jim Bradshaw declined to comment.
Prosecutors say agents found guns and more than $1 million in cash stuffed in garbage bags in the raid on Shamo's Cottonwood Heights home, as well as the pills made to look like Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and the painkiller oxycodone.
Four other people are also charged with helping package the drugs and send them to customers, many through the mail
The case shows that a relatively small number of people can have an outsize impact as the country deals with an opioid crisis, said Brian Besser, district agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"America has an inescapable appetite for drugs," he said. "Until we can change the paradigm on how we deal with pain and how we self-medicate, this problem is going to continue to proliferate."
[color=rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65098)]Fed[/color][color=rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65098)]eral authorities in Utah say they've busted a multimillion-dollar opioid-drug ring based in a suburban Salt Lake City basement, underscoring how a small operation can quickly turn out hundreds of thousands of potentially fatal fentanyl pills.[/color]
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal authorities in Utah say they've busted a multimillion-dollar opioid-drug ring based in a suburban Salt Lake City basement, underscoring how a small operation can quickly turn out hundreds of thousands of potentially fatal fentanyl pills to eager buyers.
U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said Wednesday that the seizure of nearly 500,000 pills ranks among the largest in the country.
He says the group who met at an eBay call center bought drugs from China and pressed them into fake prescription drugs sold online.
Authorities say the drugs were especially dangerous because they were manufactured to look like prescription pain pills, so users would not have realized they were taking the more powerful fentanyl — the drug blamed for the death of entertainer Prince.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
.
.
.
More news of same.....WOW.
.
.
'This is a big one,' feds announce Utah drug bust that goes up cartel chain
(KUTV) Two-dozen suspects are now facing federal drug charges after a coordinated law-enforcement strike on an alleged international drug cartel operating in Salt Lake County.
U.S Attorney for Utah John Huber was flanked by top brass from several police departments and the DEA, FBI, and U.S. Marshall Service to announce the bust at a news conference Friday morning.
“There’s more out there, but this is a big one,” Huber said. “If you are a gang member, know this, you think you are targeting us, well, we are targeting you”
Federal indictments list a narrative that details the involvement of the 24 defendants who were taken into custody along with the seizure of 17 guns, and 40-pounds of meth.
Court documents outline several locations, including West Jordan, Murray, West Valley City, and Salt Lake City as points of operations for the drug ring. In March, federal agents intercepted a drug sale of an estimated $14,000 that was set to happen at a Trax platform in Murray.
Law enforcement sources confirm there were coordinated raids on multiple locations in the county within the last few weeks.
DEA district agent in charge Brian Besser said the ring was operating like a business with supply chains and sales territory.
“Drug traffickers always hammer their problems on the streets within our communities through violence,” Besser said. “Drugs and gangs go hand in hand, and one facilitates the other.”
Besser described the arrests as “swinging the bat as hard as we can.”
The bust led federal authorities to Raul Enrique Lizarraga Lopez, who goes by the street name “Maestro.” He is believed to be a key player in the drug cartel that ships drugs from Mexico to Utah.
“Maestro” is currently in police custody in California, but may be brought to Utah to face charges.
While the bust is an accomplishment for police, several chiefs said at the news conference that they are concerned about who will try to take the place of the now-arrested drug trafficking suspects.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said the void will always be filled until the ‘appetite’ for drugs is eliminated.
One of the key operating points for the drug ring was at an unsuspecting West Jordan home on West Georges Circle. 2News spoke to neighbors who said the home where the suspects lived is now vacant, but they did see expensive cars coming and going from the house at all hours for several months.
“It makes me real angry, it’s just stupidity,” Neighbor Edgar Marquez said. “They don’t think about anyone but themselves, and their money. They don’t think about everybody else’s families.”
The defendants’ cases will be handled in the federal court in Salt Lake City.
Feds bust multi-million-dollar opioid-drug ring in Utah
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal authorities in Utah said Wednesday they've busted a multimillion-dollar opioid-drug ring based in a suburban Salt Lake City basement, underscoring how a small operation can quickly turn out hundreds of thousands of potentially fatal fentanyl pills to buyers all over the country.
The seizure of nearly 500,000 pills ranks among the largest in the country, U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said Wednesday. The group who met working at eBay bought drugs from China and pressed them into fake prescription drugs sold online, Huber said.
"What disturbs me is people can so easily get into this business and exploit it for their profit," he said.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)]News Channel[/color]
The drugs were especially dangerous because they were manufactured to look like prescription pain pills, he said. Users could have overdosed more easily because they didn't realize they were taking the more powerful fentanyl — the drug blamed for the death of entertainer Prince.
Officials believe they can trace 8,000 drug shipments to buyers around the country back to the operation in the upscale suburb of Cottonwood Heights, Huber said. Investigators say it made $2.8 million in less than a year.
Authorities unveiled an 11-count indictment filed against six people accused of participating in an operation that first came to light in November with the arrest of 27-year-old Aaron Shamo, the group's suspected ringleader.
If convicted on the first count alone, knowingly engaging in a criminal enterprise, Shamo could face up to life in prison.
His lawyer Greg Skordas could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors now say he had a partner, Drew Wilson Crandall, 30, who was arrested in Hawaii in early May. Crandall's lawyer Jim Bradshaw declined to comment.
Prosecutors say agents found guns and more than $1 million in cash stuffed in garbage bags in the raid on Shamo's Cottonwood Heights home, as well as the pills made to look like Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and the painkiller oxycodone.
Four other people are also charged with helping package the drugs and send them to customers, many through the mail
The case shows that a relatively small number of people can have an outsize impact as the country deals with an opioid crisis, said Brian Besser, district agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"America has an inescapable appetite for drugs," he said. "Until we can change the paradigm on how we deal with pain and how we self-medicate, this problem is going to continue to proliferate."