SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has filed felony charges against two Buena Park drug dealers in the largest drug bust in Orange County in 16 years, recovering enough fentanyl from inside a minivan to kill 4.7 million people. A lethal dose of fentanyl is as little as 2 milligrams; authorities recovered 20.5 pounds.
Buena Park police officers recovered 821 pounds of meth, 189.7 pounds of cocaine and 20.5 pounds of fentanyl pills after pulling over a minivan leaving a Buena Park home on March 17, 2022.
“Millions of unsuspecting people have the grim reaper looking over their shoulder and they have no idea how close they actually are to dying from taking a single pill,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Fentanyl is cheap, it’s easy to get and it is killing our children, our coworkers, and tens of thousands of innocent Americans who don’t have to die. Drug dealers don’t care about you or your loved ones – they only care about their bottom line and making as much money as possible. With fentanyl in an estimated 40 percent of street drugs, it’s not a matter of if but when someone you know and love dies from fentanyl. We have to continue to do everything we can to combat this deadly drug epidemic and save lives.”
Edgar Alfonso Lamas, 36, and Carlos Raygozaparedes, 53, have been charged with one felony count of possession of sale of a controlled substance, three felony counts of sale or transportation for sale of a controlled substance, and two felony counts of possession of sale of a controlled substance.
Raygozaparedes and Lamas are also charged with two felony enhancements that the controlled substances exceeded 80 kilograms by weight and two felony enhancements that the controlled substances exceeded 20 kilograms by weight or 400 liters by liquid volume.
Raygozaparedes and Lamas both face a maximum sentence of 37 years and 4 month if convicted on all charges. They have pled not guilty and remain in custody in lieu of $5 million bail. A preliminary hearing is set for June 7, 2021 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton in Department N3.
Last November, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is warning every convicted drug dealer and distributor of the dangers of drugs – especially fentanyl – and advising them that if their drug activities result is someone’s death they can be charged with murder. Every law enforcement agency in Orange County has also committed to providing a controlled substance advisement at the time of arrest to warn drug dealers and manufacturers of the deadly consequences of their criminal activities.
