UPS veteran gets six years in prison for shipping drugs

A former UPS worker on Wednesday was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for a scheme that involved shipping parcels of fentanyl and other drugs from Chula Vista, Calif., across the U.S., according to court records.

Ernesto Renteria, 45, had worked for UPS for 14 years and was on medical leave with herniated discs when he committed the crime, according to a sentencing memorandum by his defense attorney, Jan Ronis, and family letters submitted to the court.

In May, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration were conducting surveillance on a suspected drug courier when they followed her to a home in the Eastlake neighborhood of Chula Vista, according to a complaint filed in San Diego federal court.

Agents watched as the woman delivered a cardboard box and a backpack to Renteria, the complaint states. Renteria later drove to his home nearby and loaded more boxes into his pickup. Agents followed him as he drove to a driverless UPS truck parked in the area. He loaded six boxes into the truck. Agents arrested Renteria as he began to drive away in his pickup. An on-duty UPS driver climbed into the delivery truck and also was stopped.

According to Renteria’s plea agreement, a search of the boxes turned up 35 pounds of fentanyl, 4 pounds of cocaine and 8 pounds of fentanyl analogue — a drug that resembles fentanyl but has a slightly altered chemical structure.

Agents then searched Renteria’s house and found in his garage 73 pounds of fentanyl, 11 pounds of cocaine and 4 pounds of methamphetamine, along with packing supplies and GPS tracking devices, the plea states.

Renteria pleaded guilty in August to four counts of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. In arguing for a lower sentence, Ronis said the health issues and COVID-19 pandemic had put Renteria under financial strain and contributed to “the terrible decision he made.”

The UPS driver, whose name was not released, was not arrested, according to the complaint.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times more potent than heroin, is dominating the illicit opioid market and largely responsible for an increase in overdose deaths nationwide. It is preferred over heroin by drug cartels because it is cheap to manufacture and effective in very small doses.

The chemical structure of synthetic opioids is frequently redesigned to skirt classification as illegal or to heighten potency.

Fentanyl analogues have been temporarily classified as a Schedule I controlled substance by the DEA since 2018, but that classification is set to expire in February, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. California’s four U.S. attorneys have called on Congress for a permanent classification to keep up with the quickly evolving nature of designer drugs.