According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, 60-year-old Alfonso Gomez-Santana was arrested Wednesday when California Highway Patrol Officers pulled him over near South Lemon Street and Orangethorpe Avenue in Fullerton.
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Officers found four kilos of fentanyl inside his vehicle and 20 more kilos in his home. They also found $250,000 worth of fentanyl pills and 122 grams of methamphetamine, according to authorities.
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The district attorney's office said it takes about 2 milligrams of fentanyl to be considered a lethal dose.
"It is unconscionable that someone who has the ability to kill 12 million people is facing just a handful of years in jail," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a news release. "Fentanyl is a national epidemic that killed more than 100,000 Americans last year and it's not going to stop unless we have the tools as prosecutors to hold these drug dealers and drug manufacturers accountable for peddling death. Every parent in America should be petrified that one day they are going to walk into their child's bedroom and find them dead because their child thought they were experimenting with recreational drugs and instead drug dealers sold them a deadly dose of fentanyl. This is not fear-mongering; this is reality - and if we don't start strengthening penalties for drug dealers it's going to be the reality for you or someone you love."
Gomez-Santana has been charged with one felony count of sale or transport of a controlled substance and two felony counts of possession of sale with intent to sell.
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He faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in jail if convicted on all counts.
In November, Orange County prosecutors issued a warning to drug dealers, manufacturers, and distributors, saying if their deals result in someone's death, they could be charged with murder.
Last month, the Orange County District Attorney's Office cross-designated an Orange County prosecutor as a federal prosecutor to prosecute fentanyl cases federally to maximize sentences for drug dealers.