Placer County Sheriff

(Placer County, CALIFORNIA) Sept 3, 2022 — “That’s a good boy, Ruger!”

Thanks to K-9 Ruger and his human partner, what was a seemingly “routine” traffic stop turned into the seizure of tens of thousands of fentanyl pills.

On August 29th at 1:35 p.m., a Placer County Sheriff’s K-9 deputy conducted a traffic stop on eastbound Interstate 80 at the Maple Street exit, in North Auburn. K-9 Ruger, who is certified in narcotics detection, alerted his handler to the driver’s side of the vehicle that was pulled over.

Upon a search of that area, the deputy located five aluminum foil-lined packages that were vacuum sealed with plastic. The deputy observed parts of the packages that exposed blue-green M30 tablets, commonly known as fentanyl pills.

During the investigation, the deputy determined each package contained approximately 10,000 tablets – which amounted to about 50,000 fentanyl pills total. The deputy also located four cell phones inside the vehicle. A search of the driver and passenger revealed $898 in the driver’s wallet and $105 in the passenger’s wallet.

The driver, 27-year-old Brigido Lopez-Beltran, and passenger, 32-year-old Joaquin Mardueno, were both arrested for possession and sale of narcotics.

We commend our deputy and his K-9 for potentially saving so many lives by taking over 12 pounds of this dangerous substance off the streets.