By ROB D’AMICO
rob@bigbendsentinel.com
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Just two weeks after his brother died of a suspected fentanyl overdose in Alpine, Willie “Sapo” Ben Lara III and two companions left Alpine last Friday and drove to Chaparral, New Mexico, where they then went on a drug binge for a day before heading back home with a stash of fentanyl and methamphetamine to sell, according a to complaint filed in court this week by federal investigators.
But Lara and his companions didn’t make it to Alpine. According to the complaint, Hudspeth County Deputy Elvis Wolf pulled over their Ford Escape on Monday in Sierra Blanca for a partially concealed license plate and cracks in the windshield, along with a “crude ‘eyebrow’ painted on the inside of the vehicle’s windshield.” A canine from the Border Patrol was called to the scene and signaled there were drugs in the car. A search of the vehicle resulted in finding 8,500 doses of fentanyl and a bag of methamphetamine. Arrested for possession and intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute were Lara, 34, of Alpine, Emily Rachael Medley, 29, of Fort Davis and Michael Angel Espinosa, 34, of Alpine. All three are being held in the West Texas Detention Center in Sierra Blanca with no bond. A bond hearing is set for March 14 in federal court in Pecos.
Lara’s brother — Ismael “I.J.” Vega, 23 — died while taking drugs with his mother on February 15 at their home in Alpine, according to several sources close to the family who asked not to be named for privacy reasons. The sources suspected a fentanyl overdose, and Vega’s mother survived an overdose after a trip to the Big Bend Regional Medical Center. Lara fled town after his brother’s death, and because he was known as a major supplier of drugs to the Alpine area, numerous law enforcement agencies had actively been looking for him, the sources said.
The three arrested Monday waived their Miranda rights and explained in interviews how they would purchase the drugs and split them up for personal use, with Espinosa then selling them in Alpine for Lara, according to the complaint.
Officials from Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Public Safety, the Alpine Police Department, and the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office all are participating in the investigation of fentanyl and meth smuggling and sale in Alpine. According to recent Drug Enforcement Agency news releases, pills labeled as oxycodone 30 are often counterfeit for actual fentanyl with potentially lethal doses and are sold after being smuggled in from Mexico. Court records do not describe the actual pills or the amount, but the records state that each defendant is facing 10 years or more in federal prison. The complaint listed officers finding 13.8 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 10.9 grams of fentanyl pills, 2.6 grams of fentanyl powder and 3.5 grams of “fentanyl in a rock form known as ‘cement.’”
On February 6, 34-year-old Daniel “Danny” Celaya of Alpine was found dead from a suspected overdose at Uncle’s Convenience Store at 2411 E. Highway 90 in Alpine, according to Alpine Police Chief Darrell Losoya. However, Losoya stressed that toxicology reports from an autopsy have not come back for both Celaya and Vega, so the cause of their deaths has not been proven to be fentanyl overdoses.
Dodson said he was happy to hear about the Sierra Blanca arrests. “I’m grateful that that much fentanyl isn’t going to make it into our community,” he said.
The sheriff said he hasn’t seen an uptick in fentanyl-related crime, but he understands the danger the opioid poses, particularly since fentanyl can be so much more profitable in drug dealing than marijuana. He called Lara’s actions “heartless” and wondered about the motivation of dealers, even with the potential money they can make. “If you’re a drug dealer, you’re killing your clientele,” he said “It just doesn’t make sense sometimes.”
Dodson said Brewster law enforcement agencies are exploring the creation of a task force to address fentanyl. “We’re looking at it so we can train everyone and get them on the same boat. So, when we have a call, especially a death, we can get all these agencies to come out to see if we can resolve [the cases] as fast as we can.”
In the wake of the suspected overdoses, Brewster County officials warned residents about the dangers of fentanyl, and the Alpine Police Department and the City of Alpine hosted first-aid training that included instruction on how to use the anti-overdose drug Narcan.
Correction: An original post of this article incorrectly stated that another subject was arrested for fentanyl possession. The reporting was accurate based on jail records, but the charge was inaccurate. This story was updated on March 11 to include comments from Dodson.