NORCROSS, Ga. — A convicted felon and a man not in the United States legally face charges for possessing a narcotics and loaded guns.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Benjamin Alberto Lozoya, a convicted felon, and Arturo Carreno-Rivera, of Mexico, face federal charges after a drug bust in Norcross.
Lozoya and Carreno-Rivera were found with 30 pounds of fentanyl, 10 pounds of methamphetamine and two loaded guns during a drug trafficking operation, federal officials said.
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“The defendants conducted their alleged narcotics trafficking in public with no fear of being caught,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lozoya was seen selling more than four pounds of meth to someone in a Norcross parking lot.
Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration followed him to a trailer home nearby and while watching, saw Lozoya go to a shed, walk to another suspected drug transaction, then give roughly $11,000 in cash to a waiting vehicle.
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Lozoya was arrested and agents found a stolen loaded handgun in his pocket, six pounds of meth in his backpack and over 18 pounds of purple fentanyl bricks and 25 pounds of a white crystalline substance officials said was “consistent in appearance with methamphetamine.”
The same afternoon, DEA agents watched Carreno-Rivera conduct an alleged drug sale with someone at a gas station in Norcross.
A Georgia State Patrol trooper performed a traffic stop and found a pound of fentanyl in his car.
When agents executed a search warrant at Carreno-Rivera’s home in Norcross, they found 11 more pounds of fentanyl and a loaded semi-automatic handgun.
“Fentanyl and methamphetamine destroy lives, and those who traffic these drugs while carrying firearms put entire communities at risk,” Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, said. “Through the DEA’s Fentanyl Free America Campaign, we will continue to pursue and dismantle the networks responsible for distributing these deadly substances.”
During the investigation, federal agents learned Carreno-Rivera is a Mexican national with no legal status in the U.S.
Both men were charged in federal court on Friday.
Lozoya was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, while Carreno-Rivera was charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
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