Chico woman suspected of fentanyl trafficking
EUREKA >> A Chico woman remains in custody at the Humboldt County Correctional Facility after she and her boyfriend were arrested for allegedly trafficking thousands of pills containing fentanyl into the county.
Veronica Morales-Rangel, 22, of Chico, and Anthony Dion Medina, 24, of Eureka, were detained by Humboldt County Drug Task Force agents on Monday upon entering the county on Highway 299 near Willow Creek, where Medina stopped in the parking lot of a business and was approached by two men, Warren “Pops” Sloan, 23, Christian “Punky” Colegrove 23, both of Hoopa.
Agents who were conducting surveillance on Medina served a search warrant of their vehicle, as well as Medina and Morales-Rangel, according to a HCDTF press release.
Agents said they found Morales-Rangel wearing a fanny pack that was on her waist containing 1,002 suspected “perc30” fentanyl pills. On the back seat of the vehicle, agents said they located a large Kool-Aid container. The bottom 2/3 of the container had a false compartment with a lid that unscrewed from the bottom. Inside the compartment, agents said they found an
additional 4,000 “perc30” fentanyl pills, packaged in 4 separate bags containing 1,000 pills each.
Their six-week- old baby was also in a car seat in the back of the vehicle, near where the pills were found in the Kool-Aid container. Agents subsequently contacted Child Welfare Services, which responded to the scene, conducted an investigation and took the child into custody.
Medina and MoralesRangel were subsequently
transported and booked into the Humboldt County Jail on suspicion of possession of controlled substance for sale, transportation of controlled substances for sale, transportation of controlled substances across non- contiguous counties, child endangerment and conspiracy by two or more people to commit a crime.
Agents said Sloan was in possession of $1,800 and admitted he was there to purchase pills from Medina. He was cited and released. Colegrove was found to have two active felony arrest warrants and one active misdemeanor warrant. He was subsequently
booked at the Humboldt County Jail for the three warrants.
The arrests were part of a HCDTF-initiated investigation into the source of suspected fentanyl pills that led to the overdose of a 13-year- old Hoopa child who officers were able to save by using Narcan.
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department contacted the HCDTF on March 10, reporting the child took a “perc30” pressed pill and alleging Colegrove supplied the pill to the child.
The HCDTF later identified Medina as the source of “perc30” fentanyl pills entering the Hoopa Valley. Agents alleged Medina was picking up large quantities of pills in the San Jose area, before transporting them back to Humboldt County and selling them to multiple customers.
That led to Monday’s surveillance in Willow Creek, when agents said Medina and Morales-Rangel were returning from a trip to San Jose.
HCDTF also served a search warrant at Medina’s residence in Eureka where agents said they found a 9mm “ghost gun” with a 30 round magazine drum, a FN 57 handgun, a Glock 19 9mm handgun and four packages of cocaine totaling 8.7 grams.
Upon returning to their office, agents used a TruNarc Analyzer machine to test samples of the 5,002 pills seized from the vehicle, and they returned positive for fentanyl.
According to the release, HCDTF agents are continuing to investigate the overdoses in the Hoopa Valley and “hope to be able to” forward charges to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office.