Philadelphia man accused of trafficking deadly carfentanil into Westmoreland County
A Philadelphia man was arrested after he was accused of trafficking drugs into our area including carfentanil, a drug 100 times stronger than fentanyl.
The Wesmotrlenad County District Attorney's Office said Brendaon Fuentes, 23, was arrested in Latrobe on Monday after investigators were told that a person was traveling to Latrobe on an Amtrak train to sell heroin and cocaine.
Authorities waited at the Latrobe train station around 8 p.m. for the train to arrive from Philadelphia.
Once the train arrived, police said they saw Fuentes get off the train carrying two plastic bags and then appeared to have been waiting for a ride.
Police said Fuentes then got into a pickup truck parked in a nearby parking lot.
Investigators then pulled the vehicle over and saw drug paraphernalia in plain view. The plastic bags Fuentes was seen carrying were removed from the truck, and a police K-9 detected narcotics inside them.
A search warrant was then executed, with approximately 1.05 ounces of carfentanil and one ounce of crack cocaine found within the bags, according to authorities. The drugs were wrapped in plastic shrink wrap, along with numerous bars of soap, and covered with Vicks VapoRub in an attempt to conceal the odor from the K-9.
'Carfentanil is 100 times stronger than fentanyl; a granule-size of this narcotic – similar to a granule of sand – is powerful enough to kill someone,' Westmoreland County District Attorney Ziccarelli said. 'By intercepting these lethal drugs, many lives will be saved. I am incredibly thankful for the intensive interdiction work displayed by our law enforcement officers.'
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