HOUSTON — A 31-year-old Houston Fire Department firefighter is facing serious drug charges after he was caught with counterfeit Adderall and Xanax, according to authorities.
Edwin Balmore Gutierrez was busted during a joint buy-bust investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff's Office, officials said.
He's charged with possession with the intent to deliver more than 400 grams of a controlled substance in penalty group 1 and the manufacturing and delivery of a controlled substance in penalty group 2 between 4 and 400 grams. Both charges are felonies.
According to authorities, the joint investigation revealed that authorities knew where the pills were being made and also knew the people involved. They said meth and fentanyl were being mixed into pills and being sold as Adderall.
"Fentanyl poses an extreme danger to the community. It’s, like, 200 times more potent than heroin -- 175 people die of fentanyl poisoning every day in the United States. It’s, like, somebody (dying) every eight and a half minutes. Yeah, it’s laced with a lot of things people don’t know what’s in there. Really dangerous," judge Lisa Porter said at Gutierrez's hearing.
Gutierrez was identified as a runner and investigators said they watched him pick up pills and deliver them to people. They said he sold the pills to undercover DEA agents several times.
When he was caught, Gutierrez had 1,684 grams of fake Adderall and 253 grams of Xanax, according to authorities.
According to court officials, Gutierrez has lived in the Houston area his whole life and has been employed as a firefighter and EMT by HFD for more than four years. According to the paperwork he filled out, he worked at Houston Fire Station 9. Before working with HFD, Gutierrez worked for another private EMS service for about five years, authorities said.
He appeared in court on Monday, where a judge set his bond at $150,000 for one charge and $30,000 for the other charge. He made bail on Tuesday.
HFD statement
Fire Chief Sam Peña issued this statement:
"The alleged actions of this person are not indicative of the character and values of the nearly 4,000 employees in our department. These are serious charges and, if true, would result in termination of a firefighter."