Mom used her young sons as ‘mules’ to smuggle fentanyl from New Mexico, feds say

A New Mexico woman hid the fentanyl that later killed her boyfriend in the luggage of her two young sons on their way to visit him in Texas, federal officials reported.

The man died of an overdose on May 31 in a Dallas Love Field Airport restroom with his sons, ages 8 and 10, nearby, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for northern Texas..

The 46-year-old Albuquerque woman faces a charge of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death, the release said.

Surveillance video at the airport shows the dad greet his sons, rifle through their luggage and then enter a restroom, where he died, federal officials said.

Earlier texts exchanged between the dad and mom suggested she knew he planned to take the fentanyl and warned him about the risk of overdosing, the release said.

“No passing out on the kitchen floor,” she texted, according to the release. “Seriously you could od. No dying on the kitchen floor.”

Investigators found a “Clinique brand makeup container containing more than a gram of fentanyl” inside the stall where the man died, the release said.

“I feel for these children. To lose one parent due to the actions of the other is a calamity for a child,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham in the release.

The woman faces at least 20 years and up to life in prison if convicted.

This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Mom used her young sons as ‘mules’ to smuggle fentanyl from New Mexico, feds say."