Brothers Living in California Charged With Selling Thousands of Fake Oxycodone Pills Made with Fentanyl

Fentanyl pills seized in El Centro, California by Drug Enforcement Agents.

A trio of brothers in Indio, California have been charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl pills 20,000 fentanyl pills, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports in a press release September 14.

According to the DOJ press release, Jose Atalo Felix Beltran, Arturo Felix-Beltran and Osvaldo Felix Beltran were arrested in El Centro California when they showed up at a local restaurant to sell 20,000 fentanyl pills made to look like oxycodone.  However, the brothers did not realize that their intended purchaser was in fact an undercover Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The DOJ reports that the brothers were arrested after they had repeatedly sold fentanyl pills to undercover DEA agents. The fentanyl pills that were brought to the El Centro restaurant were fentanyl, but manufactured to look like 30mg tablets of oxycodone.  Their combined weight was approximately 2.23 kilograms, and the street value is estimated to be $600,000.

U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman noted, “This is a significant seizure and I’m very happy that thousands of deadly pills will not make it to the streets. But we are seizing fentanyl at an alarming rate. Despite our relentless efforts to interdict this dangerous drug and educate the community, people are still risking their lives. The next pill you take could very well be your last. Don’t do it.”