A Colorado drug dealer will spend the rest of his life behind bars after authorities caught him shipping 6,000 fentanyl pills — enough to kill upwards of 300,000 people, local officials said.
Carlos Gonzalez-Del Hoyo, 44, became the target of a Weld County Drug Task Force probe in September 2024 after police received a tip that the Aurora resident was peddling drugs while on parole for stealing a car, according to a news release from the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.
Two months later, authorities pulled Gonzelez-Del Hoyo over for a traffic stop in Greeley, Colorado, roughly an hour outside of Aurora.
He was caught transporting a potluck of drugs, including 6,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and 11 pounds of meth, the release said.
The parolee had also sold drugs to undercover officers on multiple occasions before his arrest, all as part of the open-and-shut investigation, according to the release.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia claimed that the fentanyl stash alone could’ve been used “to kill 88% of Weld County’s population.”
Weld County is the eighth largest county in Colorado, with an estimated 360,000 year-round residents, according to its population and development report.
“His actions were profit-driven, and he preyed upon those with an addiction. We won’t tolerate this type of destruction in our community. The Legislature has made claer that those who flood our communities with deadly narcotics must be held fully accountable, and we believe this sentence reflects that mandate,” Pirraglia said.
Gonzelez-Del Hoyo was sentenced to 159 years in prison on Friday.
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