A Greeley man faces a drug felony after police say they found him with more than 300 counterfeit fentanyl pills outside an apartment complex last month.
Eduardo Sotelo-Saucedo, 19, also faces charges of resisting arrest and obstructing an officer for trying to flee from officers while they were detaining him, according to an affidavit for his arrest. Police say they tried and failed to use a stun gun on Sotelo-Saucedo multiple times before finally apprehending him.
Just after 10:30 p.m. April 16, Greeley police were patrolling near an apartment complex in the 100 block of 14th Avenue, when an officer noticed two men walking around the east side of the building toward a dirt parking lot.
An officer announced himself as police and shined his flashlight at the two, according to the affidavit.
Police say one man — wearing a dark hoodie with his hood pulled up — started sprinting to a vehicle in the dirt lot. The man jumped into the vehicle and it sped off, jumping over the curb and taking off north on 14th Avenue, according to the affidavit.
Police say the other man — identified as Sotelo-Saucedo — stayed on the sidewalk with the officer. He was nervous and uneasy, and wouldn’t tell police why the other man ran, according to the affidavit.
Due to the circumstances, the officer detained Sotelo-Saucedo for further questioning.
When police went to frisk him, they say Sotelo-Saucedo pulled his arms way and tried to run. An officer threw him to the ground, according to the affidavit, and ordered Sotelo-Saucedo to put his arms behind his back. Police say the officer tried twice to use a stun gun on him, but the darts didn’t connect.
Sotelo-Saucedo got up and continued to run, according to the affidavit, before an officer caught up and tackled him. Police say when Sotelo-Saucedo went down, a green pill bottle fell out of his pocket. Police say the bottle contained 10 blue M-30 pills suspected to contain fentanyl.
In the bag he was carrying, police say they found another 275 blue M-30 pills in an orange prescription bottle, along with a scale.
In a smaller bag connected by a keychain to the first bag, police found three small plastic bags, two containing 15 M-30 pills, and the other containing 16 pills, according to the affidavit. Police say they also found nearly 50 empty plastic bags and a meth pipe in his pocket.
In total, police found 331 M-30 pills, according to the affidavit. Police say the pills were not tested due to safety concerns for the officers.
Sotelo-Saucedo was taken to North Colorado Medical Center, where he was admitted into the intensive care unit for “drug-related health concerns,” according to the affidavit. While he was in the hospital, police say they found a small bag with four more M-30 pills under his bed.
On May 4, police say they returned to the apartment complex and knocked on Sotelo-Saucedo’s door. He opened it and police say he settled “slightly outside the threshold of the door.”
An officer grabbed Sotelo-Saucedo’s arm, which police said was “outside the doorway,” according to the affidavit.
Police say Sotelo-Saucedo pulled away from the officer and fled into a bedroom in the apartment. The officer followed and tried to open the door, according to the affidavit, but police say Sotelo-Saucedo was holding the door shut.
The officer was able to open the door enough to see Sotelo-Saucedo on the other side of the door, and again tried and failed to use a stun gun on him, according to the affidavit.
Another officer arrived and helped get the door open and take Sotelo-Saucedo into custody, according to the affidavit. Police say they found aluminum foil in his pocket and a meth pipe in his sock.
He was again taken to the North Colorado Medical Center, this time for an elevated heart rate due to suspected drug use, according to the affidavit.
Just before 4 a.m., May 5 police were dispatched to North Colorado Medical Center on a report that Sotelo-Saucedo was leaving against doctors’ advice.
Police arrived and took Sotelo-Saucedo into custody. He was booked into the Weld County Jail without further incident and has a hearing on advisement June 26 in Weld District Court.
