Stafford Walmart investigation leads to 140-pound fentanyl bust
Four people were arrested in an interstate narcotics investigation that brought investigators to a Walmart in Stafford and a Home Depot in Woodbridge before culminating in a 270-pound drug seizure in New York City that included more than 140 pounds of pure fentanyl.
Rogelio Alvarado-Robles, 55; Blanca Flores-Solis, 51; Edwin Guzman, 35, and Manuel Rivera-Santana, 32, were taken into custody. Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis live at the same address in Queens' Kew Gardens and Guzman and Rivera-Santana live in the Bronx, but at separate residences.
All the narcotics seized in this investigation had a value of around $30 million, authorities said, and the seizure of the fentanyl was the largest in New York City history.
Fentanyl, a notoriously potent synthetic opioid, has snaked its way through the community and driven the number of fatal overdoses nationwide, authorities said. It caused 1,374 deaths in New York City in 2016 — an all-time high statistic, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
In the same year in New Jersey, there were 2,000 deaths caused by drug overdoses, many of which were opioid-based fatalities, according to state data.
A dose of fentanyl between two to three milligrams can lead to death, authorities said. By that calculation, the 64 kilograms of fentanyl that were seized could have caused around 32 million fatal overdoses.
In this investigation, which was announced Monday by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York, authorities trailed Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis to a Walmart in Stafford's Manahawkin section and watched what appeared to be a drug handoff. Later, police used a court-approved search warrant to raid Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis' Queens apartment Aug. 1.
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About a month later, on Sept. 5, authorities followed Guzman and Rivera-Santana to a rear parking lot of a Home Depot in Woodbridge and watched a tractor trailer with California license plates pull into the lot. Two men who were inside the trailer met with Guzman and Rivera-Santana, authorities said.
Rivera-Santana, accompanied by Guzman, was then seen carrying a large duffel bag that "appeared to be full and heavy" to the front of the store before placing the bag in a Toyota Sienna, climbing inside and driving away.
A few hours later, police stopped Guzman and Rivera-Santana's Toyota Sienna in New York City and saw the partially-zipped duffel bag that was equipped with a luggage lock.
After getting a search warrant, police seized the bag that was stuffed with 25 brick kilogram-sized packages of narcotics. Twenty-four kilograms tested to be a heroin-fentanyl mixture and one kilogram was pure fentanyl.
In the search of Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis' apartment, four suitcases and a purse sat on the floor of the apartment, authorities said. Inside the luggage and bag, there were numerous kilogram-sized packages of drugs that were wrapped in several different colors of plastic wrap and tape.
The drugs were seized and later determined to be 64 kilograms — or more than 140 pounds — of pure fentanyl. Police had also seized 22 kilograms of fentanyl mixed with other unspecified drugs, five kilograms of heroin and six kilograms of cocaine from the apartment.
Before searching the apartment, agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency in New Jersey saw Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis driving a silver Mercedes-Benz to a Walmart in Manahawkin.
Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis arrived at the Walmart parking lot, which was where Alvarado-Robles took a shopping bag from an "unidentified male," while Flores-Solis went inside the store, authorities said.
Once Alvarado-Robles had the shopping bag, authorities said he also went inside the Walmart and put the shopping bag inside a backpack Flores-Solis carried. The pair then exited the store, Flores-Solis put the backpack inside their Mercedes, and they left the parking lot.
Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis eventually drove back to their apartment in Queens after making several stops along the way, authorities said. When they pulled into the garage of their apartment building, narcotics agents approached them and seized a 1-kilogram package from the backpack that was later confirmed to be cocaine.
Police determined Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis lived in an apartment above the parking garage and agents went to the apartment to "secure the location," according to the prosecutor's statement. Around 9 p.m., agents and detectives said they had a search warrant and entered the apartment.
Alvarado-Robles and Flores-Solis were each charged in Manhattan Criminal Court with two counts of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Guzman and Rivera-Santana were each charged with one count of second-degree conspiracy, one count of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
“The seizure of this amount of narcotics, especially the fentanyl, undoubtedly saved countless lives," Carl J. Kotowski, special agent in charge of the DEA in New Jersey, said in the statement. "The combination of fentanyl with the other drugs is a deadly combination. We will continue to work with our law enforcement counterparts to keep our communities safe.”
Katie Park: 908-801-4853; kpark@gannettnj.com