More than 40 pounds of fentanyl seized in Bay Area’s ‘largest ever’ bust, feds say

The defendants appear to be connected to a group that was arrested and charged with fentanyl distribution late last year.

OAKLAND — In what federal prosecutors are calling the biggest fentanyl bust in Bay Area history, more than 40 pounds of the deadly drug were seized from two suspected distribution houses in Oakland and San Leandro, authorities said.

The bust was the result of a wiretap investigation by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and local authorities. It also appears connected to a prior federal prosecution, which charged eight people with selling fentanyl by the ounce in the Bay Area last December, court records show.

Seven people have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, and other related charges. Authorities say at least three pistols were also seized when authorities served search warrants at the two East Bay homes last month.

The prosecution is just the latest in a two-yearlong effort by the Northern District U.S. Attorney’s office to target fentanyl dealers, during which time overdose rates have spiked locally and nationally. This includes the so-called Federal Initiative for the Tenderloin, or FIT — which prosecuted dozens of low-level drug dealers with serious federal charges — as well as cases that have been filed against people believed to have supplied drugs to overdose victims. The effort started in 2019 under then-U.S. Attorney David Anderson but shows no signs of slowing down under the Biden Administration with a new Justice Department in place.

The lead defendant, Javier “Gio” Castro Banegas-Medina, 39, as not only the leader of a large-scale Bay Area fentanyl ring, but as a supplier of eight other suspected drug dealers who were charged in federal court last December. One of the defendants in the December case, Mayer Banegas-Medina, is Javier Banegas-Medina’s brother and is now considered a fugitive after he reportedly fled the country while out of jail on a $20,000 unsecured bond, court records show.

In court records, federal prosecutors describe Javier Banegas-Medina as a drug lord with multiple cars, thousands in disposable income, and a mansion that rests of a 2 million square-foot property in Honduras.

Prosecutors say the group had “a clear plan” to flee to Honduras if they were arrested and that Banegas-Medina encouraged his brother to do so shortly before his brother disappeared. Banegas-Medina, in fact, allegedly kept between $40,000 and $60,000 in cash on-hand in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

In addition to Banegas-Medina, Elmer Rosales-Montes, 28, and Jose Ivan Cruz-Caceres, 31, are charged with being middleman dealers in the organization and Jihad Jad Tawasha, 34, William Joseph Laughren, 25, and Heather Borges, 33, are charged as street-level dealers. In a second complaint, Keny Alduvi Romero-Lopez, 23, is charged with possessing a pound of fentanyl for distribution, which he allegedly claimed ownership of during the late May raids.

According to Concord police Det. Joshua Gilfry, who worked on the investigation as a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, the group would color-code their fentanyl based on potency so they could match customers’ needs.

“In a typical transaction, a re-distributor will place a phone call or text message to (Banegas-Medina) requesting a specific amount of suspected fentanyl, often referred to by the weight, dollar amount and/or color(s) desired,” Gilfry wrote. “The re-distributor and (Banegas-Medina) will then discuss a time and location for the delivery or pickup of the suspected fentanyl. If (Banegas-Median) is at his residence in San Leandro, he or one of his two runners…will usually meet the customer at the ‘gas station’ or ‘car wash,’ which is located nearby.”

When one unidentified male complained to Banegas-Medina that the potency of some fentanyl he’d recently supplied was too low, Banegas-Medina allegedly reassured the man that “we have some, (expletive), which are lethal,” according to the complaint. In another call, he allegedly told a person who called for a fentanyl buy, “of course I am available, as this is my job.”

Laughren, it is alleged, “distributed (fentanyl) to others, manufactured guns, and traded guns for fentanyl,” but is also addicted to the drug. Three pistols and gun parts were allegedly found in a hotel room registered to him.