A man charged Wednesday with having a large amount of illegal narcotics, among them the extremely potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, that he intended to sell stashed inside a Santa Ana home, federal prosecutors said.
Guillermo Ernesto Sanchez Hermosillo, 41, was already incarcerated in an Orange County jail on state charges when he was named in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release.
An investigation was launched after authorities were tipped off that the defendant was trafficking drugs, officials said.
On July 31, Huntington Beach police and a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives went to his apartment to conduct a probation compliance check. At the time, the defendant was on probation after being convicted in a domestic violence case in March, prosecutors said.
Three minors were in the apartment when authorities showed up, including a 3-week-old baby, investigators said.
The search turned up 2,722 grams of methamphetamine, 1,992 grams of heroin and 891 grams of fentanyl, wrapped in plastic in a bedroom closet, officials said.
A .45-caliber Glock handgun and eight rounds of ammunition were also seized.
Upon the discovery of the weapon and drugs, Hermosillo was taken into custody by local authorities.
On Wednesday, he was charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Because the amount of drugs seized was so large, the defendant’s will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for each drug-trafficking charge, and could face a life sentence, prosecutors said.
ATF and Huntington Beach police are continuing to investigate the case.