Drugs stored in produce crates: DEA says Lexington supermarket facilitates trafficking.
A Lexington supermarket has been accused of facilitating drug trafficking operations after two people were arrested and charged with fentanyl trafficking outside the store earlier this week, according to DEA investigative records.
The DEA has alleged that Super Mercado Aguascalientes, a supermarket on Alexandria Drive, is involved in facilitating narcotics trafficking. The accusation was made by a DEA agent in an affidavit filed in federal court Wednesday. Two men, Salvador Beltran-Morales and Reynaldo Montoya-Ruiz Esparza were arrested and now face state and federal charges.
“During debriefings, (confidential sources) have advised investigators that shipments of narcotics arrive in Lexington, KY on semitrailers and the narcotics are stored in produce crates,” a DEA special agent wrote in an affidavit.
There are multiple Super Mercado Aguascalientes stores in Lexington. The DEA’s affidavit indicated that multiple stores were involved in trafficking, but state business records indicate the stores may be owned by separate people. Multiple phone calls to the store on Alexandria Drive were not answered or returned.
Investigators didn’t state in the affidavit whether or not Beltran-Morales or Montoya-Ruiz Esparza were directly affiliated with Super Mercado Aguascalientes. A DEA spokesperson said the agency doesn’t comment on active investigations and couldn’t confirm if the DEA was additionally investigating the store.
Police made the two arrests on Monday after they began conducting surveillance in the area of the Days Inn Motel on North Broadway. Investigators took interest in a 2014 Ram 1500 truck with a New Mexico license plate and a large empty trailer attached, according to court records.
That morning, investigators watched as suitcases and bags were loaded into and removed from the truck outside the motel. Beltran-Morales was driving the truck, according to court records. He and two women left the motel in the truck.
Investigators kept surveillance on Beltran-Morales until he showed up at the Super Mercado Aguascalientes on Alexandria Drive, according to a DEA agent’s affidavit.
“Throughout other DEA and Lexington Police Narcotics Enforcement Unit (NEU) investigations, multiple reliable and credible confidential sources (CS) have identified Super Mercado Aguascalientes as a common location utilized to facilitate narcotics trafficking operations,” a DEA agent wrote in the affidavit.
Beltran-Morales and the women entered the store. They came back out a short time later, and Montoya-Ruiz Esparza pulled up next to their truck in a GMC Yukon, according to the affidavit.
Montoya-Ruiz Esparza got in the Ram, then got out with a bag in his hands, according to court records. He put the bag in his SUV and drove off. Beltran-Morales went back into the store.
Lexington police stopped Montoya-Ruiz Esparza after he left the store. A narcotics K-9 showed up at the traffic stop and detected narcotics inside the SUV, according to court records. Lexington police found the bag with two kilograms of fentanyl in it.
Nearly two hours after Montoya-Ruiz Esparza left Super Mercardo Aguascalientes, Beltran-Morales came back out of the store. Lexington police narcotics investigators detained him when he exited and searched his truck after a K-9 detected narcotics. Investigators found suspected narcotics stuffed inside a sock which was stuffed inside a bag in the truck, according to the affidavit.
Investigators didn’t state the weight of the narcotics found in the truck, but said they believed “the suspected controlled substances seized were intended for distribution and not consistent with amounts for personal consumption.”
Beltran-Morales, a New Mexico resident, faces one state charge of trafficking 28 grams or more of fentanyl. He also faces one federal charge of possessing 400 grams or more of fentanyl with the intent to distribute.
Montoya-Ruiz Esparza, a Lexington resident, faces the same charges.
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 7:50 AM.