Infiltration of drug trafficking operation leads to arrest in Evansville fentanyl sting
EVANSVILLE – After undercover DEA agents infiltrated a Mexico-based drug trafficking operation, a federal grand jury has indicted a California man authorities say delivered 60,000 fentanyl pills to Evansville.
Javier Moreno-Garibaldi, 37, of Salinas, was indicted Monday on a felony charge of distribution of fentanyl.
According to an affidavit filed in the case, officers with the Evansville resident office of the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Moreno-Garibaldi on the morning of Sept. 4 after he reportedly delivered 60,000 fentanyl pills to the parking lot of a West Side Evansville hotel.
When Moreno-Garibaldi arrived, he reportedly climbed into the car of the undercover officer and told them the pills were stashed in a dog kennel box of the backseat of his vehicle.
Authorities paid him $120,000 in counterfeit money for the drugs, as well as a $2,500 delivery fee. As soon as the drugs were placed in the undercover’s car, authorities apprehended the suspect.
The arrest was the culmination of a multi-unit, multi-state investigation that launched this spring, when undercover authorities successfully began negotiating drug buys in Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
After intercepting a package containing 4,000 fentanyl-stuffed counterfeit pills that had been mailed through the U.S. Postal Service in April, authorities began communicating with “an unknown Hispanic male in Mexicali, Mexico over WhatsApp to arrange for … payment.”
Agents and a "money courier" with the trafficking operation reportedly met in Terre Haute several days later, the affidavit states. From there, officers negotiated for additional deliveries to Evansville.
The suppliers shipped both fentanyl pills and methamphetamine, the affidavit states. In text messages, they referred to the former as “M&M’s” and the latter as “ice cream.” The suppliers and undercovers eventually arranged for delivery of 100,000 “M&M’s” and 50 pounds of “ice cream,” spread across two shipments.
On Sept. 1, the supplier reportedly texted the undercover officers that a courier – reportedly identified as Moreno-Garibaldi – would deliver a haul of 60,000 pills from Calexico, California. Through a series of messages, they set up the buy at the hotel.
In addition to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA, members of the Evansville Police Department, Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force and Owensboro Police Department also took part in the sting.
Fentanyl deaths have been rising in Evansville for years. In 2022, 77 people died of overdoses in the city. According to the Vanderburgh County Coroner's office, fentanyl or heroin was listed as a cause in 43 of those. That's more than double the 17 heroin or fentanyl-related deaths listed in 2019.
On Monday, a judge entered an automatic not-guilty plea for Moreno-Garibaldi, court records state. His jury trial is scheduled for Dec. 4.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Feds arrest man accused of bringing 60K fentanyl pills to Evansville
