Federal and local law enforcement officials say San Antonio’s drug problem has gotten worse. They cite an increase in overdoses and are looking for ways to fight it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, they are teaming up to address it together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Monday, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Western District of Texas and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said they are creating a task force that will investigate local drug overdose cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Simmons, U.S. Attorney for the West District of Texas, said\u00a0the new task\u00a0force will allow agencies to \u201ccombine their efforts against the fentanyl problem,\u201d and to help “sweep dangerous drugs off our streets.”<\/p>\n
The Overdose Task Force includes the U.S. attorney’s office,\u00a0DEA San Antonio Division, San Antonio Police Department, Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office, UTSA Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI.<\/p>\n
Officials could not immediately provide the number of local drug-related deaths this year. San Antonio Police Chief Jesse\u00a0Salame said his department typically receives 150 calls per month for overdoses cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind those calls is a person, a family and a community affected by dangerous drugs,\u201d Salame said.<\/p>\n
He said\u00a0SAPD is assigning five detectives with experience in narcotics and homicide investigations to respond to overdose cases and provide leads to the task force.<\/p>\n
He said the task force is part of a long-term goal to prevent crime by addressing its root causes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we disrupt that supply and hold those responsible accountable, we’re not only addressing a quality of life issue, we’re also addressing an underlying driver of violence,\u201d Salame said.<\/p>\n
Simmons said the new task Force was initially formed to assist Homeland Security agents in a drug bust last week on the city’s West Side.<\/p>\n
In that case, officers obtained search warrants for three homes in the 1000 block of\u00a0Torreon St. after witnessing several drug deals. Officers raided the homes Thursday and took three people into custody, Simmons said.<\/p>\n
Valerie\u00a0Samaniego, 40, was charged with possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of\u00a0fentanyl. Agents found just over 140 grams of fentanyl and a handgun hidden in the floorboards of a living room in one of the homes on Torreon Street, according to a criminal complaint.\u00a0She faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n
Alfredo Alejandro, 56,\u00a0was charged with possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a\u00a0methamphetamine mixture. He also faces up to 40 years if convicted.<\/p>\n
Alejandro Reyes was charged with possession with intent to distribute\u00a0methamphetamine. He faces up to\u00a0 20 years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal and local law enforcement officials say San Antonio’s drug problem has gotten worse. They cite an increase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-457439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}