Rocklin police uncover suspected fentanyl, cash and more during traffic stop, officials say
.jpg "Rocklin police arrested three people Saturday evening, July 15, 2023, after uncovering fentanyl and other drug paraphernalia during a traffic stop near the border of Rocklin and Roseville in Placer County.")
An officer uncovered a large amount of suspected fentanyl and at least $1,000 in cash during a traffic stop Saturday evening in Rocklin, police said.
Rocklin police pulled over a vehicle for “several” equipment violations on Taylor Road under Highway 65, near the city’s border with Roseville. One of the occupants was discovered to be on searchable probation with two warrants for their arrest, the Rocklin Police Department said in a social media post.
A K-9 alerted the police of the presence of narcotics, and a search uncovered individually packed narcotics and other drug paraphernalia, in addition to the 64 grams of fentanyl and cash, according to Capt. Scott Horrillo of the Rocklin Police Department. All three occupants were arrested on charges related on a sales-based case, according to the post.
The arrest came a week after a 21-year-old man was convicted of second-degree murder for supplying fentanyl to a teen from Roseville, who died from a fentanyl overdose last year. Nathaniel Cabacungan was the first in California to be convicted of homicide for supplying fentnanyl, according to Placer County prosecutors.
Fentanyl overdose is the leading killer of Placer County residents aged 18 to 45, according to Placer County’s website, with a 450% increase in fentanyl-related deaths from 2019 to 2021. Placer County’s launched a “1 Pill Can Kill” campaign in 2022 to warn and educate the public about the narcotic, as well as provide resources to get help.
Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire released a public service announcement last August regarding rainbow-colored batches of fentanyl that were allegedly “designed to market to minors.”
“To be clear, all fentanyl purchased on the street is deadly, no matter the color, shape, size, or form,” Gire said in the PSA. “Yet we find this rainbow-colored substance is one of the many tools that dealers are using to make the poison appeal to our kids.”
California legislators have introduced several bills in the wake of the fentanyl crisis, which range from murder convictions of persons guilty of distributing the drug to training school staff on how to treat persons who overdose on opioids.