An Arizona man got slapped with a 70-month prison sentence following a drug bust involving over 28 pounds of methamphetamine stashed within a children’s shark pillow, according to a press release from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Steve Lugo Leon, 24, was originally arrested in the parking lot of the Arizona Mills Mall in 2021, the outlet reported Tuesday. In addition to the methamphetamine, Leon allegedly had over 9,000 fentanyl pills in his possession.
Leon was trying to sell the drugs at the mall when police officers from the Gila River Police Department made an attempt at a traffic stop, the DEA wrote in a June 1 press release.
Allegedly fleeing the officers’ traffic stop attempt, Leon drove his Ford F-150 truck before crashing into another vehicle, the release continued. The impacted vehicle flipped on its side.
Leon’s codefendant, 20-year-old Rafael Ivan Valenzuela Chairez, exited the vehicle and began to run away on foot before officers arrested him, according to the DEA release.
Authorities say they found more than 28 pounds of methamphetamine and more than 9,000 fentanyl pills concealed inside a shark-shaped children’s pillow inside his truck. https://t.co/ZKJbZ5xrcx
— FOX 10 Phoenix (@FOX10Phoenix) June 7, 2023
Leon subsequently hit a light pole with the F-150, and police found the drugs stored within the bed of the truck, the release continued. (RELATED: Feds Seize Several Gallons Of Drug Called ‘Coma In A Bottle’ In Philadelphia)
Leon later “pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute 40 Grams or More of a Mixture or Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Fentanyl,” according to the agency.
Chairez, who received a prison sentence of 18 months, “pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute a Mixture or Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine.”
United States District Judge G. Murray Snow mandated an additional supervised release period of five years for Leon, according to the press release. Chairez received a supervised release term of three years.