One fentanyl trafficker stopped in San Joaquin County will be spending the better part of the next decade as a guest of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

According to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, Galt resident Jesus Solano Acampo was sentenced to 9 years is prison after pleading no contest to charges of transportation and sale of fentanyl with a multiple kilogram enhancement, possession of methamphetamine for sale, and possession of an operable firearm and narcotics.

Ocampo was pulled over in San Joaquin County and found to be carrying 80,000 fentanyl pills and an operable firearm – prompting officers to seek and secure a search warrant for both his home and his storage unit to search for additional narcotics or contraband.

During that search officers discovered 60 pounds of methamphetamine and additional firearms.

The resolution of the case with prison time for the offender sent a strong message to others that may be engaged in the illicit trafficking and sale of fentanyl – San Joaquin County takes these crimes seriously.

Last week the DA’s office announced that the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors had signed off on dedicating the funding to create a fentanyl task force – the Fentanyl Intervention and Response Safety Team, or FIRST Team.

Comprised of a base unit of three deputy district attorneys, two investigators, a crime analyst, and a victim advocate, the team will likely grow to include additional personnel to help deal with the escalating crisis spurred by the extremely addictive substance.

A synthetic opiate, fentanyl – which can 50 times stronger than heroin – if often manufactured by multinational criminal organizations in places like Mexico using precursor chemicals purchased from China and then smuggled into the United States – often through legal ports of entry concealed in vehicles.

The substance was tied to 67,325 preventable deaths in 2021 – a nearly 30 percent increase over the 53,480 deaths in 2020.

Last year, in 2022, there were more than 109,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States – with the majority of those attributed to the use of fentanyl.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.