California duo caught with $1 million fentanyl pills at JFK hotel

Two California men were arrested this week with a stash of 32,000 fentanyl pills worth $1 million at a John F. Kennedy Airport hotel, authorities said on Wednesday.

Roodolph Pierre-Lys, 33, and Uriel Barajas-Valencia, 50, were taken into custody Monday following a multi-agency investigation into drug trafficking, New York City Special Narcotics Attorney Bridget Brennan said in a news release.

Authorities said Barajas-Valencia orchestrated the delivery of the deadly pills to New York.

Both men were charged with criminal first- and third-degree possession of a controlled substance in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday and are being held on $50,000 bail or $100,000 bail, Brennan’s office said.

“Over the past few weeks, in cooperation with our law enforcement partners, we have seized hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills and stolen millions of dollars from suppliers,” Brennan said in a statement.

“This seizure and the arrests of two California resident defendants near Kennedy Airport underscore our work to save lives.”

The investigation, being conducted in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the New York State Police and the Queens District Attorney’s Office, is the latest in a series of operations to stem the flow of the increasingly popular fentanyl into the region.

Earlier this month, Chelsea authorities arrested an alleged drug dealer with 20,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills – part of a worrying trend of targeting children by making the dangerous drugs look like candy.

Federal officials said this week that Mexican drug cartels have turned Los Angeles into a major national distribution center for fentanyl.