ALAMOSA — In the course of conducting a traffic stop on Thursday, officers with the Alamosa Police Department (APD) discovered a large amount of fentanyl and a significant amount of cash, resulting in the arrest of the driver.
According to a press release from the City of Alamosa, at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, APD initiated a traffic stop in the 500 block of 4th Street. The vehicle was stopped for a traffic violation and to investigate a possible domestic violence situation.
After speaking with the occupants of the car, no domestic violence was found to have occurred, but officers spotted drug paraphernalia in plain view in the vehicle.
That prompted a search of the vehicle where 218 grams (the equivalent of 1,781 pills) of fentanyl.
The driver, 26-year-old Anthony Cumby of Alamosa, was arrested and charged with suspicion of the following unlawful distribution of a controlled substance (Drug Felony 1), unlawful possession of a controlled substance (Drug Felony 4), driving under restraint (Canceled/Denied), failure to signal (Traffic Infraction).
Cumby was booked into the Alamosa County Detention Center where he is being held on a $25,000 bond.
When asked to comment on the amount of fentanyl seized by APD, Chief George Dingfelder said, “A lot of the people we contact (users) that have fentanyl, have 2 to 3 pills. 1,700 pills is a lot of pills.”
When asked to comment on what impact close to 2,000 fentanyl pills could have on a community, Dingfelder was reluctant to make a definitive statement, citing that a number of factors figure into trying to compute the impact, making it impossible to offer a definitive answer.
With that caveat, Dingfelder said, “We report in grams, in this case, 218 grams. Each gram has 1,000 milligrams.” Citing a report from the DEA, Dingfelder continued, “This [DEA] report states, 2 milligrams can kill a person, depending on body size, tolerance and past usage. The math equates: 218 grams x 1,000 milligrams = 218,000 milligrams. DEA states, again, that 2 milligrams can kill a person depending on their tolerance, body size, etc.”
