Two men traveling on Interstate 78 in the СŷƵ have been charged with hauling about 20,000 fentanyl pills, Northampton County District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta said Thursday.
State police arrested Jorge J. Gomez Guzman, 28, with addresses in Easton and Maryland, and Maykol J. Goris Hiciano, 23, of The Bronx, of New York after a vehicle stop that resulted in the drug seizure, Baratta said in a news release.
Police conducted the traffic stop Wednesday along I-78 in Glendon, according to Baratta. Hiciano, who was driving, gave police consent to search the vehicle; Guzman was a passenger.
Upon searching the vehicle, troopers located a plastic bag containing two vacuum-sealed packages with approximately 20,000 small, round blue pills marked with the letter “M,” Baratta said.
Authorities later determined the pills to be fentanyl, an opioid painkiller many times more powerful than heroin, and typically prescribed to treat severe pain. Fentanyl has appeared as an illegal street drug mixed with other substances, such as heroin. Experts say its growing prevalence in the illicit drug supply is a large reason for an increasing number of overdose deaths in the U.S.
The men were arraigned before District Judge Robert C. Weber of Easton and sent to Northampton County Jail under $250,000 bail.
Gomez Guzman has been charged with two felony counts of manufacturing, delivering or possessing with intent to deliver illegal drugs, and a single misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, court records show. Goris Hiciano was charged with similar offenses and also possessing a small amount of marijuana, according to court documents.
