Anthony Fuentes

Hours after a 25-year-old Cody man was found dead of an apparent fentanyl overdose, authorities arrested the man they believe supplied the illicit drugs.

Anthony M. Fuentes of Greybull is currently facing multiple drug-related charges that allege he possessed and distributed counterfeit painkillers laced with fentanyl. Additionally, Fuentes will be charged in either Park or Big Horn County in connection with the Cody resident’s Jan. 2 death, a prosecutor said at a Friday hearing in Big Horn County Circuit Court.

“We now have a deceased person because of the actions of the defendant,” said Big Horn County Prosecuting Attorney Marcia Bean.

On Monday, the 35-year-old Fuentes remained incarcerated at the Big Horn County Detention Center in Basin, with bail set at $100,000.

Charging documents allege agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation quickly gathered significant evidence against Fuentes — tricking him into delivering fentanyl-laced pills to undercover agents and obtaining a complete confession.

The documents indicate that DCI, Cody police and the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office collaborated on the investigation. They arrested Fuentes within 24 hours of the death of the Cody resident, who is identified in court documents by only his initials.

When DCI agents reviewed the resident’s phone, they found he’d used Signal, a messaging application that encrypts users’ messages and can be configured to automatically delete messages. Signal’s privacy-focused features can hinder law enforcement investigations, DCI Agent Shane Reece wrote in an affidavit, but in this case, the app contained a single contact. The individual was identified only as “Pop Tart,” but had a phone number linked to Fuentes.

“Fuentes was known to DCI and the local sheriff’s office to be involved in the obtainment and distribution of controlled substances, specifically fentanyl,” Reece wrote in an affidavit.

In an attempt to catch Fuentes red-handed, Reece messaged “Pop Tart,” posing as the deceased resident and asking if he could “get” something.

“Without a second passing, Fuentes immediately replied, stating ‘Yep,’” Reece recounted in the affidavit.

Fuentes eventually agreed to provide two pills, the charging documents say, and he directed the undercover agent to “driver seat dually.” DCI agents subsequently found two pills wrapped in foil and sitting on the driver’s seat of Fuentes’ dually Chevy pickup, parked in front of his apartment. Agent Reece said the pills looked like the pain killing medication oxycodone, but he suspects they were counterfeits laced with fentanyl — a dramatically more potent painkiller that can be lethal even in small quantities.

Attorney Bean said fentanyl “is such a serious drug that we try not to do … field tests on it because simply touching this drug can result in death.” DCI has submitted the pills to the Wyoming State Crime Lab for chemical testing.

Shortly after the agents retrieved the pills, Fuentes’ partner and two children left the apartment and went to pick up Fuentes at his workplace, the charging documents say.

Fuentes then arrived at the apartment and reportedly went straight to the pickup. If he was expecting to find cash, Fuentes was disappointed, as he was instead met by DCI agents, who took him into custody.

During a search of the truck, authorities found a stray pill under the passenger seat and another 12 pills inside a small clear baggie.

Fuentes initially declined to speak to authorities about fentanyl, but after being arrested — and reminded of his rights — the suspect allegedly said he’d obtained about 40 pills in Denver and had sold a large portion over the past month-and-a-half. According to the affidavit, Fuentes specifically admitted to selling the “suspected fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone” to the late Cody resident on multiple occasions — including selling him two pills for $80 on Jan. 2.

“This delivery occurred just hours prior to the decedent … being discovered deceased from a suspected fentanyl overdose in Cody,” Reece wrote.

In its ongoing “One Pill Can Kill” information campaign, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration warns of the extreme danger posed by counterfeit medications.

“These pills are largely made by two Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco (CJNG) Cartel, to look identical to real prescription medications, including OxyContin, Percocet, and Xanax, and they are often deadly,” the DEA said in a recent public safety alert. Of the fake fentanyl-laced pills analyzed by the administration’s lab last year, six out of 10 contained potentially lethal amounts of the drug, the DEA says.

“Obviously we know that fentanyl is extremely dangerous,” Bean said at Friday’s hearing. “It obviously results in death.”

In connection with the pills found in Fuentes’ vehicle and allegedly delivered to the late Cody resident and the DCI agents, he’s facing two felony counts of delivering a controlled substance and two felony counts of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Fuentes also faces a misdemeanor count of possessing a controlled substance.

The current charges theoretically carry a maximum sentence of up to 80 years of prison time. Bean indicated that prosecutors may also file a felony charge of manslaughter, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

While Bean requested that bond be set at $100,000, Fuentes’ attorney, Letitia Abromats, requested a “much lower” $25,000 cash or surety bond.

In making the request, Abromats said her client is the sole source of financial support for his partner and their children and that his incarceration would pose a “tremendous hardship on the family.”

“We appreciate how serious these charges are,” Abromats said, and she noted the seriousness of fentanyl.

However, she said the allegations relate to “something that’s already happened” and that this is “the only criminal conduct [for Fuentes] within the past 10 years.” Further, with Fuentes having family in Big Horn County, Abromats argued that the risk of him fleeing is “non-existent.”

Bean countered that flight risk “is always an issue with a case of this seriousness.” She also alluded to the potential danger to Fuentes’ children posed by his alleged involvement with fentanyl.

“His partner was seen leaving the house to go pick [Fuentes] up and bring him back … with the children, so they have had at least some exposure to it,” Bean said. “So clearly, this is an activity or a behavior that the defendant is taking not seriously at all.

“And again,” she said, “we do have a deceased person.”

Circuit Court Magistrate Randy Royal adopted the prosecutor’s recommendation and set bond at $100,000. If Fuentes posts that amount of cash, he’ll have to check in with law enforcement twice a day, among other conditions.

A preliminary hearing in the case is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday in Basin.

A funeral for the late Cody resident is set for Thursday in Greybull.