SAN JOSE — A couple has been arrested and criminally charged after a police raid revealed a hoard of illegal drugs scattered throughout their home and within reach of their 1-year-old boy, including a backpack filled with 25,000 fentanyl pills kept underneath the baby’s crib, authorities said.
The fentanyl recovery marks what officials said was the largest single law-enforcement seizure of synthetic opioids in county history.
Octavian Moreno, 27, and Krystal Delgado, 23, were arrested and later charged with having illegal drugs for sale and child endangerment after local law enforcement served a search warrant at their San Jose home Tuesday, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Moreno was also charged with illegal gun possession.
The warrant was obtained following an investigation conducted by the county’s Specialized Enforcement Team probing suspected drug sales linked to the couple, prosecutors said.
When the warrant was served, police officers reported finding the couple’s toddler son “playing in his playpen a few feet away from one of the bags of marijuana” they seized. In total, the team reported confiscating 13 pounds of fentanyl pills separated into plastic bags, 13 pounds of marijuana, a pound and a half of cocaine, two digital scales and about $4,000 in cash.
Prosecutors said the cocaine was located in the kitchen next to the baby’s formula, and police found a gun in an unlocked drawer in the same room.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen referenced two high-profile fentanyl baby deaths prosecuted by his office when remarking on the potential danger presented in the new case. Eighteen-month-old Winter Rayo died Aug. 12 after consuming what authorities said was 24 times the lethal dose of fentanyl, leading to her parents and two housemates being charged with murder in a landmark case in the county.
On May 13, 2023, 3-month-old Phoenix Castro ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl and methamphetamine, a case that shone a harsh light on the social safety net tasked with keeping the baby safe from parents who were known to suffer from severe substance abuse issues.
“This is a county where fentanyl and the callous disregard for its lethality took the lives of two small children — Baby Phoenix and Baby Winter. I had hoped that their short lives had gained some meaning as a warning to all parents,” Rosen said in a statement. “I am relieved today that we have not added another name to that tragic list.”
Moreno and Delgado were booked into the Elmwood jail in Milpitas and were initially held on bail amounts of $237,000 and $186,000 respectively. At their arraignment in a San Jose courtroom, Judge Hector Ramon revised those bail amounts to $250,000 and $200,000, and issued a protective order barring them from having any contact with their child, who is in the care of a grandparent.
Ramon admonished the defendants and also referenced the fentanyl baby deaths when explaining why would not consider granting them supervised release.
“I don’t trust the defendants to comply with court orders regarding the safety of this child because of the danger they put the child in the first place,” he said in court. “This court was involved with someone who wasn’t as fortunate as you two are, where the baby died because of fentanyl poisoning.”
Both are scheduled to next appear in court July 18. If convicted of all charges, Moreno and Delgado face maximum sentences of 18 and 11 years in prison.
