Child's shark pillow drug bust at Arizona Mills in Tempe leads to prison terms
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Posted 6/6/23
A 24-year-old Phoenix man has been sentenced to 70 months in prison after authorities found more than 28 pounds of meth concealed in a child’s shark pillow, officials said.
Steve Lugo …
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PHOENIX MEN SENTENCED
Child's shark pillow drug bust at Arizona Mills in Tempe leads to prison terms
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
A 24-year-old Phoenix man has been sentenced to 70 months in prison after authorities found more than 28 pounds of meth concealed in a child’s shark pillow, officials said.
Steve Lugo Leon was sentenced late last month by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow to the prison term followed by five years of supervised release, according to a release from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
During an investigation, DEA agents found that on Sept. 15, 2021, Leon arranged to sell fentanyl pills and methamphetamine at the Arizona Mills mall in Tempe.
Gila River Police Department officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop in the mall parking lot, but Leon, who was driving a Ford F-150, attempted to flee, officials said.
He collided with a vehicle, causing it to turn on its side. Rafael Ivan Valenzuela Chairez, 20, of Phoenix, the front-seat passenger in the truck, attempted to flee on foot and was apprehended by officers. Leon continued to drive until he crashed the truck into a light pole, the release stated.
Agents found the methamphetamine concealed in the pillow and more than 9,000 fentanyl pills in the truck bed.
Chairez was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
