A California sheriff’s deputy is facing two felony charges after he was caught with more than 100 pounds of fentanyl in his car — and may have connections to a Mexican drug cartel.
Jorge Orceguera-Rocha, 25, was charged Monday with one felony count each of possessing fentanyl for sale and transporting narcotics.
The four-year law enforcement veteran is also accused of being armed with a loaded gun during the offense, which could get him a longer sentence.
Orceguera-Rocha has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
He is being held at the John Benoit Detention Center on a $5 million bail after his former colleagues at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office claimed he was a flight risk due to his possible connections with a Mexican drug cartel, USA Today reported.
It is unclear what those connections may be.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office announced last week that it was investigating a drug ring when it identified one of its own employees — Orceguera-Rocha — as playing a critical role in transporting narcotics into the county.
Authorities then opened an investigation into Orceguera-Rocha’s actions, and intercepted his phone calls.
It is unclear how long they had been surveilling Orceguera-Rocha, or what evidence may have prompted the investigation.
But on September 16, deputies learned he was planning to travel to an “identified narcotic stash location” in Victorville, Calif., investigator Joshua Ricard wrote in an affidavit obtained by USA Today.
At around 1 p.m., investigators saw him driving near Banning (about 80 miles east of Los Angeles), and a couple hours later spotted him again in San Bernardino County, according to the affidavit.
By 3 p.m., the affidavit said Orceguera-Rocha arrived at a home in Victorville and made a phone call to an unidentified family member.
He then allegedly entered the garage of the home.
From there, investigators said they followed him as he drove away.
Eventually, a “narcotics detection interdiction deputy” conducted a traffic stop, Ricard wrote in the affidavit, adding that a trained dog alerted authorities to the likely presence of narcotics.
“Inside the trunk of the vehicle, deputies located four trash bags all containing square-shaped [packages] wrapped in clear cellophane,” the affidavit says.
“Further examination of the packages revealed they all contained a bulk quantity of blue fentanyl laced M30 pills.”
The packages weighed a total of 104 pounds, and contained 520,000 pills, according to the affidavit.
A loaded Glock belonging to Orceguera-Rocha was also sitting on his backseat.
The Post has reached out to his attorney, Randy Collins for comment.
Deputies now say their former colleague, who resigned following the allegations, knew what he was doing could have lethal consequences — though they claim he did not smuggle “narcotics into the Riverside County jail system” and is not believed to have transported narcotics while on duty.
“Based on his employment with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, your affiant knows Oceguera-Rocha has knowledge of the dangers of fentanyl and the mass overdose pandemic,” Ricard writes in the affidavit.
“Your affiant estimates the quantity he was in possession of at the time of his arrest is enough to kill approximately 2 million people.”
Ricard also argued that any money Orceguera-Rocha uses to post bail may have originated from criminal organizations.
Orceguera-Rocha is due back in court on October 31, when a judge is set to reconsider his bail.