Fentanyl Courier Charged After Agent Seizes 6,000 Pills

A fentanyl dealer who sold roughly 6,000 pills laced with fentanyl to an undercover agent has been federally charged, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Richard Daniel Gomez, 22, was charged on Thursday via criminal complaint with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. He made his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver on Friday.

According to the complaint, an undercover DPS agent negotiated with a drug trafficker to buy 6,000 “blues” for $15,000 cash. (“Blues,” which often resemble oxycodone, are often manufactured illicitly and laced with fentanyl, an opioid 75 - 150 times more potent than oxy.)

The trafficker directed the agent to meet with his courier in a parking lot in Dallas’ Turtle Creek neighborhood. When the agent arrived, the undercover met with Mr. Gomez inside a pickup truck. Mr. Gomez allegedly handed over a vacuum-sealed bag containing a large number of blue pills and was promptly arrested.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation of wrongdoing, not evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

If convicted, Mr. Gomez faces 10 years to life in federal prison.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Dallas Police Department are conducting the investigation with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rick Calvert and George Leal are prosecuting the case.