A suspected fentanyl dealer from Greybull is now implicated in the overdose death of a 25-year-old Cody man.
Anthony Micheal Fuentes is charged with delivering fentanyl, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. The charge includes a reported drug delivery from Jan. 2, hours before Jordan Jackson died unexpectedly at his home in Cody.
While a local resident in a text to Cowboy State Daily has linked Jackson to the case, Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker was unable to confirm Tuesday whether Jackson is the victim of a fentanyl overdose, saying the investigation is ongoing. Court documents identify the victim as “J.J.”
According to a criminal affidavit filed Jan. 5 in Lovell Circuit Court, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents responded to the suspected fentanyl overdose death Jan. 3.
The Deceased Man’s Phone
The agents opened the deceased man’s phone and found the Signal application, an encrypted messaging app with auto-delete features. Messages had been set to auto-delete every 30 seconds, but the Signal app contained just one contact, saved as “pop tart.”
The cellphone number for “pop tart” traced back to Fuentes, the affidavit states.
“Fuentes was known to DCI and the local Sheriff’s Office to be involved in the obtainment and distribution of controlled substances, specifically fentanyl,” it says.
The agent with the deceased man’s phone went undercover to find the dealer and, from the man’s phone, sent Fuentes a text on the Signal app saying, “Hey can I get.”
Less than a second later, the affidavit states, Fuentes answered “yep.”
The special agent discussed with Fuentes how they could meet for a drug sale, the document continues, adding that Fuentes said he was at work, indicating they could meet there.
The Drop
The special agent spoke with Big Horn County Sheriff’s deputies who knew Fuentes, and they said that he worked at the Family Dollar store in Greybull.
Agents went to the store and confirmed Fuentes was working there. The special agent texted Fuentes saying, “Almost there.”
Fuentes replied, “how many.”
The agent answered, asking for two, presumably referring to fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills.
“OK,” answered Fuentes, adding “Driver Seat Dually.”
The agents went to Fuentes’ home in Grebyull and found a 1996 Chevy dually registered to Fuentes. They believed Fuentes meant for the drug buyer to pick up fentanyl from the vehicle and leave money behind in it, the affidavit says.
The special agent entered the driver’s side door and found a foil-wrapped small package on the driver’s seat. The affidavit says the package contained two pills believed to contain fentanyl and counterfeit oxycodone.
Agents Follow, Wait
After the transaction, a woman and two juveniles left the apartment, the special agent observed, and entered a different truck with a license plate that indicated it, too, belonged to Fuentes.
They left the home in that truck and, as agents watched, arrived at the Family Dollar.
Another special agent watched Fuentes enter the passenger side of that vehicle and travel east. The agent tried to follow Fuentes but briefly lost track of him. He later reappeared on a street approaching his home.
The special agent with the deceased man’s phone sent a prompting text to Fuentes asking if he “got it money on the seat,” later adding, “did you get my money I get paranoid about that shit.”
Fuentes parked at his home, got out of the truck he’d arrived in and immediately entered the rear passenger door of the dually.
DCI agents emerged from their lookout points and called out to Fuentes that they were law enforcement. They then arrested Fuentes on suspicion of drug delivery.
Marijuana, Fentanyl
After being given his Miranda rights, Fuentes reportedly said he knew the deceased man but would not verbally answer questions regarding the alleged drug drop, the affidavit says.
He did say, the document adds, that there was personal-use marijuana in his home.
The agent obtained a search warrant for Fuentes’ home and vehicles. Agents found less than 3 ounces of suspected marijuana along with marijuana paraphernalia in the home, plus a piece of aluminum foil missing a torn corner about the size of the drug package from the truck, according to the affidavit.
In one of the trucks, agents reported that they found fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone under the passenger seat and a clear baggie in the rear passenger side floorboard.
DCI agents returned to the Big Horn County Detention Center to talk to Fuentes more, where he reportedly admitted to obtaining about 40 fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills while in Denver about six weeks prior, the affidavit says.
He also told agents he’d sold a large portion of the drugs before, the document continues, adding that he admitted to selling the drugs to the deceased man on multiple occasions, and that he was the alias “pop tart.”
One of those occasions was hours before the man was found dead, the affidavit says.
The drugs found weighed in at 1.6 grams, or about 15 doses of fentanyl-laced oxycodone.
