Correctional officer charged with smuggling meth, heroin across US-Mexico border
An Arizona correctional officer and Army National Guardsman allegedly smuggled more than 20 kilograms of methamphetamine and a kilogram of heroin across the United States/Mexico border, all with his wife and three children in the car with him, authorities say.
Fernando Urrutiaguillen, 34, from Chandler, Arizona was pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers on the 5 freeway in Irvine on April 18 for a traffic stop.
Officers say a K-9 alerted them to drugs stashed in the gas tank of Urrutiaguillen’s vehicle. They believe Urrutiaguillen was attempting to drive the drugs over the border and into California.
Urrutiaguillen faces two felony drug possession charges, two felony drug transportation charges, two felony enhancements for the more than 20 kilograms of meth, and two felony enhancements for possession of more than a kilogram of a drug.
Urrutiaguillen, who is being held in the Orange County Jail on $3 million bail, faces up to 21 years and four months in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities say Urrutiaguillen worked as a corrections officer at a private prison in Arizona.
The condition of his wife and children were not immediately clear. Authorities do not believe they were aware of the alleged smuggling.