Derby cops noticed a large cardboard box in the cab of a tractor-trailer after pulling over its driver for failing to keep the 18-wheeler in one lane on Route 34 last month.
So they asked the driver, 47-year-old Erick Escalante, what was in it.
“S**t,” Escalante replied.
Inside the box, according to cops — 55 pounds of Fentanyl, a highly potent and illegal drug.
The details come from an affidavit filed in federal court by police in connection with the Dec. 21 traffic stop.
The affidavit was made public Monday (Jan. 9).
The arrest made national news due to the sheer quantity of the seizure.
“55 Pounds of Death” announced a headline by VICE News, for example, on a story that estimated the drugs seized during the stop contained enough fatal doses to kill every person in Connecticut — twice.
“I am very proud of the diligence of my officers and that I know they saved many lives with the interdiction of these drugs,” Derby Police Chief Gerald Narowski told the Valley Indy. “The final product would have resulted in over a half million bundles of finished drugs.”
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid often mixed with or substituted for heroin. Its possession and use are governed strictly by the federal Controlled Substances Act.
The drug is frequently blamed for overdoses, as was the case with at least one fatal overdose in Derby last year.
According to the affidavit, written by a Hamden police officer serving with a federal Drug Enforcement Administration organized crime drug task force, Derby police initially stopped Escalante’s truck for failing to stay in his lane — a simple traffic violation.
He allegedly told cops he had just delivered some cargo in Orange and was looking for a place to park because he isn’t familiar with the area and needed to find diesel fuel.
At the same time, the affidavit said, Escalante “appeared abnormally nervous and at times appeared confused as to where he was going and from where he was coming.”
So they asked him about the box on the seat next to him.
His reference to feces only heightened their suspicions. They called in a police dog from Shelton.
Meanwhile, they also spoke to a dispatcher from Escalante’s company who told them Escalante “had failed to notify them that he was leaving the last stop where he was scheduled to make a delivery.”
When the police dog from Shelton arrived and sniffed around the truck, it alerted officers that there were drugs in the box.
The affidavit says police removed the box from the truck and opened it up. Inside, they found 25 vacuum-sealed bricks of Fentanyl totaling about 55 pounds.
In a subsequent interview with police and DEA agents, the affidavit says Escalante said he had picked up the package “from an unidentified male in California.”
“He then traveled from California to Baltimore, Maryland, where he was directed to go to an address in Waterbury, CT,” the affidavit says. “After making a delivery in Orange, CT, he was heading to Waterbury to deliver the package.”
The document doesn’t say whether Escalante told officers he knew what was in the package or not.
Lawyer: He Didn’t Know
Escalante’s lawyer, Michael Moscowitz, said he did not.
“It’s my position he did not know what was in the package,” Moscowitz said.
The lawyer said Escalante is a native of Mexico who is a legal resident of the United States and has a family in Arizona.
“My client has no prior criminal history and he’s worked hard all his life,” Moscowitz said.
The affidavit does not go into more detail about Escalante’s illicit itinerary, but said the delivery in Orange “did not involve narcotics.”
Moscowitz said Escalante was delivering produce.
Escalante faces charges of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah A.L. Merriam ordered that Escalante be detained after a Dec. 21 hearing.
Escalante is scheduled to appear in federal court again Feb. 6.
Moscowitz said he is preparing a filing asking the judge to release Escalante on bond and have federal officials in Arizona monitor him while the charges are pending.
It’s unclear whether the truck’s trailer has also been searched.
A spokesman for federal prosecutors said Tuesday that “the investigation is ongoing.”
