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New type of opioid drug case prosecuted in San Diego

Posted at 1:26 PM, Oct 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-06 16:31:32-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The U.S. Attorney’s office of Southern California announced Friday it is prosecuting the first San Diego County case involving carfentanil.

The synthetic opioid is 100 times stronger than Fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine, officials said.

In the San Diego case, the defendant, Sky Gornik, is accused of trafficking in carfentanil, Fentanyl, ketamine and other drugs through the U.S. mail over several years.

RELATED: Drug deaths on the rise in San Diego County

Investigators said a search of Gornik’s Clairemont home turned up a baggie containing 1.77 grams of carfentanil, the equivalent of 86,000 fatal doses.

Federal agents and local police also said they found gel tablets containing Fentanyl and methamphetamine. The tablets were ordered over the dark web from a dealer in Oklahoma, who had purchased them from China, agents said.

The U.S. Attorney’s office is also prosecuting its first case involving 4ANPP, the primary chemical used to manufacture Fentanyl. The drug was mailed from China to locations in San Ysidro, agents said. The product is typically taken into Mexico, where the Fentanyl is manufactured, then smuggled back into the U.S., according to prosecutors.

RELATED: Opioid overdoses shorten U.S. life expectancy

The 4ANPP case involves a former Border Patrol agent, Cesar Daleo. Prosecutors said he was arrested while trying to pick up a package containing the chemical from a post office box in San Ysidro. Charging documents in the case indicate Daleo had picked up packages at the same location 13 times in the last year.