One day after being detained for having 150,000 illicit fentanyl pills during a California traffic stop, two alleged drug dealers were freed, according to authorities.
After being found in possession of $750,000 worth of fentanyl tablets, Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19, both from Washington, were arrested and taken to the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility.
A day after their arrest on Saturday, the two were released from custody on Monday, according to a court order, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The two men were ordered to be released, but sheriff Mike Boudreaux “strongly disagrees,” claiming it is a matter of public safety. He was made to follow the court order without his input.
The Tulare County Probation Department administers what is known as the Risk Assessment Process to all convicts booked into the county’s facilities, according to police.
The “Risk Assessment” is then forwarded to the court’s judge, who decides whether or not to release the detained person or to hold them on bail.
The risk assessment was completed by county commissioner Mikki Verissimo, who answers to the judge of the Tulare County Superior Court, and she found the two to be fit for release.
Tim Ward, the district attorney for Tulare County, has not responded to the release, but according to his office, they were not involved in the decision-making process used by the Tulare County Probation Department.
According to the DA’s office, the two men will go back to court on July 21 to hear a judge’s ruling on their accusations.
According to the California Department of Public Health, the powerful narcotic, which is more potent than heroin and morphine, is a leading cause of deadly overdoses across the state.
According to the most recent data from the CDPH, fentanyl-related mortality ‘rose at an unpredictable pace in 2020’ with 3,946 overdoses.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, fentanyl is now categorized as a Schedule II narcotic with a “high potential for abuse which may develop to serious psychological or physical dependence.”
Fentanyl possession is now only considered a misdemeanor crime in the state.
Legislators in California have been urging stiffer sanctions and issuing warnings about the fatal fentanyl issue that is harming children across the state.
Some state legislators tried to enact legislation in April of this year to make it a crime to have two grams or more of fentanyl on your person.
Legislators attempted to reschedule fentanyl as a Schedule I drug along with meth and heroin in the same bill, but they were unsuccessful.
If passed, traffickers would have been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for selling lethal amounts of fentanyl.
Republicans and Democrats have both made efforts to address the fentanyl issue, but some of their fellow party members contend that tougher sanctions are not the answer.
For their lax approaches to combating crime, a number of California district attorneys have drawn criticism.
George Gascon, the district attorney for Los Angeles, is currently up for recall after promising to take a different approach to incarceration when he was elected to office in 2020.
Various criminal justice reforms introduced by Gascon have had terrible effects on crime victims.
Gascon is held accountable for the surge in violent crime, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has consistently criticized Gascon.
According to Villanueva, his office submitted more than 13,000 files to the DA’s office, but those cases were turned down because they didn’t adhere to Gascon’s criminal regulations, Fox News said.
Early in June, following a rise in violence in the city, Northern California’s progressive district attorney for San Francisco, Chesa Boudin, was called back.
Statistics indicate that the crime wave has gotten worse this year compared to previous year, which was one of the worst crime years in decades, with the city’s murder rate increasing by 11% and rapes increasing by almost 10%.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has also experienced an upsurge in homelessness and drug usage in public places.