Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm going to go to our news partners at KATVR
just for the website version. But Gene has been talking
about it all morning right here on k Away the
headline one point seven million fentanyl pills found in Highland's
Ranch storage unit mark Colorado's largest drug seizure. Joining us
talk about it, David o'leski, David a Special Agent in
charge of the Rocky Mountain Division of the DEA. David,
(00:24):
thanks for making time for us on short notice.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I appreciate it absolutely. Roshian it good morning. It's a
rather captivating story now from the record sentinel seizure, the
storyline auction, and the cartel ties. It's so grateful to
have just a few minutes to talk about the threat
Sentinel still has here. It's our community in Colorado.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So in the interest of time, I don't think we
need to spend a ton of time on how you
found it. Basically, someone rented a storage unit, they found
this stuff in there, and they contacted authorities and now
here you are, right, Is there anything much more than
needs to be added to the origin story here?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Not the origin a few hundred bucks right there in
Highland's Ranch. Now, not much more to that.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, I'm fascinated by what you just said. Then in
your first comments the cartel connection, can you talk about
that a little.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Bit, absolutely, and the ties to this particular seizure. So
the reason it went to auction is because back in
the spring of this year, about six to seven months ago,
we had apprehended the individual that was tied to this
storage locker as part of a Sineloa cartel network based
here in Colorado with ties the six other states across
the southwest part of our country and right into Mexico.
(01:35):
And so we were focused on this Sinaloa cartel organization
for trafficking millions and millions of fentanyl pills as well
as meth amphetamine. And so that was kind of the
origin story of how the locker came to be. And
again our focus at DTA with along with CBI, the
height of the task forces is to continue to go
after the fentanyl threat that's here in Colorado and our
(02:00):
as Eino ross just how many lives, hundreds of thousands
of lives we've lost over the last few years to
the drug poisonings and overdoses due to the cartels.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Socially, Janeleski, we had a Texter earlier this morning, ask
why the DEEA didn't know about the or have the
storage unit once.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
The guy was under arrest.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Could they have gotten the storage unit, got in hands
on it, or if the process of just putting it
up for auction could have we avoided the guy who
ended up purchasing the storage unit and finding the fentanyl.
And at least this guy was able to reach out
and say something is wrong here after.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, number one, the citizen did the absolute right thing
by Colin and Sheriff's office getting hand out and just
turn it over to authorities. That's a great question. Listen,
and we knew that this organization was responsible for trafficking
the one hundreds of thousands of pills. This is obviously
a record. I think this much. But the point being
is the cartels are so compartmentalized in their activity that
(02:54):
oftentimes when they're moving the money side of an organization,
they do not know about the drug trafficking side of
an organization. Even within the drug components, the couriers don't
necessarily know the drug traffing cellehead. Let's say it's very compartmental.
So when we took off the individual, it does prove
we were onto the right network. But even the cartel,
(03:16):
I think would be there to say if they knew
the drugs were still out there, they would have accessed
it themselves. But it really goes to how compartmentalized and
their own techniques and trafficking methodologies that have presented the
challenge in this case.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
One of the things that I'm reading is these pills,
like one point seven million pills are described as counterfeit.
Now we know that they have fentanyl in them, so
they're real in that sense, but they're counterfeit in some
other sense, like they're pretending to be what oxy or
some other drug? What are they pretending to be?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So one hundred percent don't want the terminology to get
confused that there's no fentel. Absolutely the only active ingredient
in the pills is fentanyl. But if you were to
look at these pills, it has the cartels have the die,
the cast that when they manufacture it, they have the
same excipients, the blue color, they have the dye that
press the M thirty logo onto the pills that you
(04:15):
me or a pharmaceutical you know, a doctor would not
be able to tell the difference between what is a
pill that contained meentinyl and one that came straight from
the pharmacy. So we always say, do not touch any pills,
order them online, don't do any of that stuff. Get
your pills directly from a licensed pharmacist, and don't trust
anything else that you might have. You were just talking
(04:36):
on the story on the news before. There were some
other types of pills. You guys were talking about and
the top of the newscast. Don't trust anything you get
nowadays unless you get it directly from your pharmacy.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So and you said it's pretending to be thirty? Is
that oxycodone? What is M third direct? Yeah, all right,
that's correct.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Curious and I don't even know if you could share
this information. But how do you possibly dispose of properly
disposed of one point of a million sentinel pills?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well? Absolutely, I mean that we end up having there's
facilities around the nation that end up disposing the other
environmentally friendly way. So we'll send this off to our
drug labs for testing and then once it's there, and in
terms we deal with the prosecution of the network, it'll
get turned over to a place to dispose it. But
it's a you know, we talk often about once a
year we come out with our lab testing results, and
(05:25):
it does fluctuate year to year, where at some point
we've been at a high of seven of ten pills
containing a lethal dose, down to three pills contain a
lethal dose. The bottom line is that certainly this person
who won the auction was hoping for millions of dollars,
but he really ended up doing something that in terms
of his priceless in terms of the live stage by
lay these drugs not hitting the streets.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Last, very quick question for you, the guy who's in
jail who had this locker, is the discovery of this
stuff going to add to the charges that he's facing
or is he already facing some charge which of such
significance that adding this wouldn't make any difference if he's
convicted on whatever, he's already.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Facing a little bit of both. So yes, definitely more
people are going to get prosecuted as a result of
an up unfortune. What I can't get into is because
some of the individuals were already going through their trial
and so can't talk about it. But absolutely we're going
to hold those accountable and that's what we're working through.
Both federal and federal judicial processes in different parts of
the country to hold those members of this organization accountable.
(06:29):
And you know, we're still losing so many lives. We
have gone from a hide of one hundred and ten
thousand and twenty twenty two twenty twenty three, the most
recent numbers as a nation, we're down to about seventy
three thousand lives lost and the twelve months ending April.
So I had to say, you know, it is a
turning of the tide, but it's still enough folks to
(06:50):
fill a football stadium on a on a Sunday afternoon
ross in terms of how many lives we're losing per year,
and even here in the city and County of Denver,
we're on pace for a record year. So it get
this opportunity to talk to you just about Sentinel and
what it continues to do to our society at large.
You know, please share this message for your listeners. Don't
(07:11):
trust any of the pills that you might be getting
unless it comes from a pharmacist. You know, we have
our slogan at our agency to say one pill can kill,
but one conversation can save. And so grateful for the
chance today to talk about not only the record seize
or but the harm Sentinel continues to harm our community.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
David Oleski, special Agent in charge of DEA's Rocky Mountain Division,
Thanks for your time and thanks for the good work.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Thanks to both you and keep it up.
I'm going to go to our news partners at KATVR
just for the website version. But Gene has been talking
about it all morning right here on k Away the
headline one point seven million fentanyl pills found in Highland's
Ranch storage unit mark Colorado's largest drug seizure. Joining us
talk about it, David o'leski, David a Special Agent in
charge of the Rocky Mountain Division of the DEA. David,
(00:24):
thanks for making time for us on short notice.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I appreciate it absolutely. Roshian it good morning. It's a
rather captivating story now from the record sentinel seizure, the
storyline auction, and the cartel ties. It's so grateful to
have just a few minutes to talk about the threat
Sentinel still has here. It's our community in Colorado.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So in the interest of time, I don't think we
need to spend a ton of time on how you
found it. Basically, someone rented a storage unit, they found
this stuff in there, and they contacted authorities and now
here you are, right, Is there anything much more than
needs to be added to the origin story here?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Not the origin a few hundred bucks right there in
Highland's Ranch. Now, not much more to that.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, I'm fascinated by what you just said. Then in
your first comments the cartel connection, can you talk about
that a little.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Bit, absolutely, and the ties to this particular seizure. So
the reason it went to auction is because back in
the spring of this year, about six to seven months ago,
we had apprehended the individual that was tied to this
storage locker as part of a Sineloa cartel network based
here in Colorado with ties the six other states across
the southwest part of our country and right into Mexico.
(01:35):
And so we were focused on this Sinaloa cartel organization
for trafficking millions and millions of fentanyl pills as well
as meth amphetamine. And so that was kind of the
origin story of how the locker came to be. And
again our focus at DTA with along with CBI, the
height of the task forces is to continue to go
after the fentanyl threat that's here in Colorado and our
(02:00):
as Eino ross just how many lives, hundreds of thousands
of lives we've lost over the last few years to
the drug poisonings and overdoses due to the cartels.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Socially, Janeleski, we had a Texter earlier this morning, ask
why the DEEA didn't know about the or have the
storage unit once.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
The guy was under arrest.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Could they have gotten the storage unit, got in hands
on it, or if the process of just putting it
up for auction could have we avoided the guy who
ended up purchasing the storage unit and finding the fentanyl.
And at least this guy was able to reach out
and say something is wrong here after.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, number one, the citizen did the absolute right thing
by Colin and Sheriff's office getting hand out and just
turn it over to authorities. That's a great question. Listen,
and we knew that this organization was responsible for trafficking
the one hundreds of thousands of pills. This is obviously
a record. I think this much. But the point being
is the cartels are so compartmentalized in their activity that
(02:54):
oftentimes when they're moving the money side of an organization,
they do not know about the drug trafficking side of
an organization. Even within the drug components, the couriers don't
necessarily know the drug traffing cellehead. Let's say it's very compartmental.
So when we took off the individual, it does prove
we were onto the right network. But even the cartel,
(03:16):
I think would be there to say if they knew
the drugs were still out there, they would have accessed
it themselves. But it really goes to how compartmentalized and
their own techniques and trafficking methodologies that have presented the
challenge in this case.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
One of the things that I'm reading is these pills,
like one point seven million pills are described as counterfeit.
Now we know that they have fentanyl in them, so
they're real in that sense, but they're counterfeit in some
other sense, like they're pretending to be what oxy or
some other drug? What are they pretending to be?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So one hundred percent don't want the terminology to get
confused that there's no fentel. Absolutely the only active ingredient
in the pills is fentanyl. But if you were to
look at these pills, it has the cartels have the die,
the cast that when they manufacture it, they have the
same excipients, the blue color, they have the dye that
press the M thirty logo onto the pills that you
(04:15):
me or a pharmaceutical you know, a doctor would not
be able to tell the difference between what is a
pill that contained meentinyl and one that came straight from
the pharmacy. So we always say, do not touch any pills,
order them online, don't do any of that stuff. Get
your pills directly from a licensed pharmacist, and don't trust
anything else that you might have. You were just talking
(04:36):
on the story on the news before. There were some
other types of pills. You guys were talking about and
the top of the newscast. Don't trust anything you get
nowadays unless you get it directly from your pharmacy.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
So and you said it's pretending to be thirty? Is
that oxycodone? What is M third direct? Yeah, all right,
that's correct.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Curious and I don't even know if you could share
this information. But how do you possibly dispose of properly
disposed of one point of a million sentinel pills?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well? Absolutely, I mean that we end up having there's
facilities around the nation that end up disposing the other
environmentally friendly way. So we'll send this off to our
drug labs for testing and then once it's there, and in
terms we deal with the prosecution of the network, it'll
get turned over to a place to dispose it. But
it's a you know, we talk often about once a
year we come out with our lab testing results, and
(05:25):
it does fluctuate year to year, where at some point
we've been at a high of seven of ten pills
containing a lethal dose, down to three pills contain a
lethal dose. The bottom line is that certainly this person
who won the auction was hoping for millions of dollars,
but he really ended up doing something that in terms
of his priceless in terms of the live stage by
lay these drugs not hitting the streets.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Last, very quick question for you, the guy who's in
jail who had this locker, is the discovery of this
stuff going to add to the charges that he's facing
or is he already facing some charge which of such
significance that adding this wouldn't make any difference if he's
convicted on whatever, he's already.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Facing a little bit of both. So yes, definitely more
people are going to get prosecuted as a result of
an up unfortune. What I can't get into is because
some of the individuals were already going through their trial
and so can't talk about it. But absolutely we're going
to hold those accountable and that's what we're working through.
Both federal and federal judicial processes in different parts of
the country to hold those members of this organization accountable.
(06:29):
And you know, we're still losing so many lives. We
have gone from a hide of one hundred and ten
thousand and twenty twenty two twenty twenty three, the most
recent numbers as a nation, we're down to about seventy
three thousand lives lost and the twelve months ending April.
So I had to say, you know, it is a
turning of the tide, but it's still enough folks to
(06:50):
fill a football stadium on a on a Sunday afternoon
ross in terms of how many lives we're losing per year,
and even here in the city and County of Denver,
we're on pace for a record year. So it get
this opportunity to talk to you just about Sentinel and
what it continues to do to our society at large.
You know, please share this message for your listeners. Don't
(07:11):
trust any of the pills that you might be getting
unless it comes from a pharmacist. You know, we have
our slogan at our agency to say one pill can kill,
but one conversation can save. And so grateful for the
chance today to talk about not only the record seize
or but the harm Sentinel continues to harm our community.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
David Oleski, special Agent in charge of DEA's Rocky Mountain Division,
Thanks for your time and thanks for the good work.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Thanks to both you and keep it up.
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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