They both had Mexican driver’s licenses, provided conflicting stories and displayed “nervous behavior” during the traffic stop, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said. That’s when a K-9 searched the vehicle and seized three kilos of fentanyl that Jones said was enough to kill 1.5 million people, or every person living in Cincinnati and Dayton.
The fentanyl was stored in vacuum-sealed packages and had a street value of $500,000, Jones said.
In October, Jones called it “one of our biggest drug busts.”
Hernandez-Ramos and Mancias-Martinez both were indicted Monday for trafficking and possession in fentanyl-related compound, both first-degree felonies.
The indictment comprises charges against two other men, including possession and trafficking of cocaine charges against Napoleon Figueroa-Pineda, 44, both first-degree felonies. Those crimes are alleged to have happened on Nov. 8.
A fourth man, Reymundo Castro-Penaloza, was indicted for trafficking in fentanyl-related compound and trafficking cocaine as well as complicity to both drug charges, all first-degree felonies.
The case involving all four defendants is assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Judge Dan Haughey. Luis Hernandez-Ramos, Mancias-Martinez and Figueroa-Pineda are each held on $500,000 bond. A warrant for Castro-Penaloza was issued Monday. He was not in the Butler County Jail on Tuesday afternoon.
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