A suspected drug dealer in California has been charged with possessing enough fentanyl to potentially kill as many as "12 million people," according to the Orange County District Attorney's office.
"Alfonso Gomez-Santana, 60, of Fullerton 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," the DA's office said on Friday, through a media release.
On Wednesday, California Highway Patrol officers arrested Gomez-Santana in Orange County and found more than four kilos of fentanyl while searching his vehicle.
Later on, when officers searched the suspect's home, they discovered "20 more kilos of fentanyl, $250,000 in fentanyl pills, and 122 grams of methamphetamine."
Gomez-Santana faces up to 80 months in prison, if convicted on all counts.
"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.
Spitzer also said, "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."
A recent media report revealed that 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021 — a 15% increase from 2020.
Within that number, 71,000 Americans died of a fentanyl-related overdose in 2021 — an 18.3% increase from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In April, Breitbart News reported that border officials seized 11,200 pounds of fentanyl at the United States-Mexico border for the 2021 fiscal year, and have already seized 5,800 pounds of fentanyl since October 1, 2021, when fiscal year 2022 began, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
"The figures indicate that fentanyl seizures under [President Joe] Biden, last year alone, have quadrupled since fiscal year 2019 when [former President Donald] Trump was in office," wrote Breitbart.
In April, law enforcement officials in northern California's Alameda County seized up to 90 pounds of fentanyl, with an estimated value of $4.2 million.
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