An Arizona correctional officer and Army National Guardsman has been charged with smuggling meth and heroin across the U.S.-Mexico border while his wife and children were in the car.

Fernando Urrutiaguillen, 34, of Chandler, Arizona, is accused of smuggling 50.7 pounds of methamphetamine and 2.2 pounds of heroin across the border, stashed away in the gas tank of his vehicle, the Orange County, California District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

On Tuesday, Mr. Urrutiaguillen was pulled over in Irvine, California, with his wife and three children in the vehicle with him. A California Highway Patrol drug dog sniffed out something suspicious, prompting a search of the vehicle and the discovery of the drugs.

Law enforcement does not believe that the suspect’s wife and children were aware of the drugs inside the vehicle. 

“This individual not only put his wife and three young children in incredible danger, he put another black mark on every upstanding law enforcement officer … we refuse to allow a correctional officer to get away with leading a double life making money as a drug trafficker one day and keeping watch over drug dealers behind bars the next,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

Mr. Urrutiaguillen has been charged with numerous felonies: two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell, two counts of sale or transport of a controlled substance, two enhancements of a controlled substance in excess of 44 pounds, and two enhancements of possession of a controlled substance over 2.2 pounds.

If convicted, Mr. Urrutiaguillen, who is being held on $3 million bail, would face a maximum sentence of 256 months in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.

In the interim, Mr. Urrutiaguillen has lost his security clearance and has been banned from the premises of the private prison where he works, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry told the New York Post.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.