An 18-year-old from Gladstone has been charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in a criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
The Clackamas County Interagency Task Force (a group of law enforcement agencies including the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, the Canby Police Department, Oregon State Police, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations) began looking into Cristhian Martinez following a September overdose death in Clackamas County.
After discovering “numerous” counterfeit M30 Oxycodone pills believed to contain fentanyl at the scene of the overdose, investigators were led to Martinez by the person who sold drugs to the overdose victim. The dealer, who provided information to investigators in exchange for “consideration on their pending federal criminal charges,” worked with the task force to arrange to buy fentanyl from their supplier, Martinez, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Bobby Gutierrez.
Tracking Martinez’s phone with permission from a U.S. Magistrate judge, members of the task force located Martinez traveling north through Oregon from California on Nov. 16 and conducted a traffic stop in Gladstone.
“During a K-9 sweep of the blue BMW, Washington County Deputy Michael Colburn, utilizing K-9 unit ‘Mando,’ received a positive alert for the presence of narcotics in the vehicle,” Gutierrez wrote in the affidavit. “The vehicle was searched and investigators found multiple packages hidden behind the radio console wrapped in duct tape.”
Members of the task force found more than 1,000 grams total of compressed fentanyl.
Investigators searched Martinez’s Gladstone apartment the same day and found more fentanyl, a 20-ton shop press used to press bricks of fentanyl, 10 handguns, an AR-15 style rifle and ammunition.
Martinez appeared in court before a US Magistrate judge Monday, Nov. 20 and will remain detained until trial.
