A 53-year-old Tucson man who reportedly admitted to selling hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pill for the Sinaloa Cartel was arrested two weeks ago in Lubbock while he was en-route to deliver 5 kilograms of the deadly drug to New York.
Marco Antonio Tena, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his Nov. 22 arrest, faces multiple state felony drug charges.
His arrest was a result of a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
According to court documents Tena was wanted on a 2017 theft of service warrant out of Gaines County and ATF agents believed he was staying in a hotel in the 4600 block of I-27 in Lubbock.
Theft of service is a state jail felony, which carries a punishment of six months to two years in a state-jail facility.
DPS and ATF agents set up watch at the hotel and saw Tena approach a Dodge pickup truck and arrested him.
A search of Tena's jacket and socks yielded multiple clear plastic bags that contained white powdery substances investigators suspected were cocaine and methamphetamine.
Tena was also armed with a .45 caliber pistol, which they found in the waistband of his pants, the document states.
Tena reportedly led investiagtors to the bed of his pickup truck investigators found a bag that contained 2,000 fentanyl pills stamped with M-30, the document states.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid more powerful and potent than heroin. Drug dealers often disguise the drug as other legitimate prescription medications, such as oxycodone, which typically carries the M-30 stamp.
The drug has been linked to multiple overdose deaths in Lubbock over the years.
A drug sniffing dog also alerted agents to more drugs inside the vehicle, where they found marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, and prescription anti-anxiety drugs, the document states.
Meanwhile, Tena spoke with agents and admitted to bringing the fentanyl pills from Tucson, Arizona.
He said he initially brought 150,000 pills and had already distributed about 148,000 in the last two weeks and planned to delivering the remaining 5 kilograms of fentanyl to New York.
Tena reportedly told investigators that he sells between 40,000 to 150,000 fentanyl pills in Tucson and send the money to the Sinaloa Cartel, the document states.
Jail records show Tena remains held at the Lubbock County Detention Center multiple felonies including five drug charges and a weapons charge.
His bond is set at $123,500.