SEATTLE — A man that was caught with 20,000 fentanyl pills and 17 pounds of meth outside a Seattle high school was federally charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute on Thursday.
The suspect, identified as Anthony Valela, pleaded not guilty.
On June 12, Seattle police were called to Cleveland High School near Seattle's Beacon Hill and Georgetown neighborhoods to a report that someone was partially parked on the sidewalk and sleeping in their car.
When police arrived, they found Valela and a female passenger slumped over in a purple and blue color shift Mercedes SUV. The passenger side wheels of the car were on the curb in front of the high school.
Officers directed Valela to get out of the car and when he got up they noticed a glass pipe and a "crystalline substance" on the driver's seat, according to court documents. When officers searched Valela a "crystalline substance" also fell out of his front pants pocket. The crystals were later positively identified as methamphetamine.
Per Seattle police policy, officers began to inventory the valuables in the vehicle before impounding it. After locating what appeared to be a gallon-sized bag of meth in the passenger side of the car, police applied for a warrant to search the rest of Valela's vehicle.
After securing the warrant, officers found 17 pounds of meth, 20,000 fentanyl pills, 458 grams of powdered fentanyl, 376 grams of cocaine and 30 grams of heroin in the back of Valela's car. Police also found $17,000 in cash, two cell phones, five digital scales and gold jewelry.
After speaking with officers, Valela admitted to knowing the drugs were in his car and that he sold drugs to make money. He also said he had more drugs at his home in Kirkland.
Upon a search of the home, officers found over a kilogram of fentanyl powder, 182 grams of cocaine, around 1,000 fentanyl pills, 262 grams of meth, 45 grams of ketamine, several small baggies of "unknown white powder" and a pill bottle containing suboxone sublingual strips and miscellaneous pills, according to court documents.
The trial date in Valela's case is set for September.
