Arizona correctional officer, Army National Guardsman accused of drug smuggling with household in automotive

An Arizona correctional officer and Army National Guardsman has been charged with smuggling meth and heroin throughout the U.S.-Mexico border whereas his spouse and youngsters have been within the automotive.

Fernando Urrutiaguillen, 34, of Chandler, Arizona, is accused of smuggling 50.7 kilos of methamphetamine and a couple of.2 kilos of heroin throughout the border, stashed away within the fuel tank of his car, the Orange County, California District Attorney’s Office introduced Friday.

On Tuesday, Mr. Urrutiaguillen was pulled over in Irvine, California, together with his spouse and three youngsters within the car with him. A California Highway Patrol drug canine sniffed out one thing suspicious, prompting a search of the car and the invention of the medication.

Law enforcement doesn’t imagine that the suspect’s spouse and youngsters have been conscious of the medication contained in the car. 

“This individual not only put his wife and three young children in incredible danger, he put another black mark on every upstanding law enforcement officer … we refuse to allow a correctional officer to get away with leading a double life making money as a drug trafficker one day and keeping watch over drug dealers behind bars the next,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer mentioned.

Mr. Urrutiaguillen has been charged with quite a few felonies: two counts of possession of a managed substance with the intent to promote, two counts of sale or transport of a managed substance, two enhancements of a managed substance in extra of 44 kilos, and two enhancements of possession of a managed substance over 2.2 kilos.

If convicted, Mr. Urrutiaguillen, who’s being held on $3 million bail, would face a most sentence of 256 months in jail. He has pleaded not responsible.

In the interim, Mr. Urrutiaguillen has misplaced his safety clearance and has been banned from the premises of the non-public jail the place he works, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry instructed the New York Post.