Federal prosecutors charged Francisco Joel Garcia Farias after a Highway 93 stop near Ash Springs turned up hundreds of pounds of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Field tests and a complaint are how this case starts. The weights in the charging document are allegations, and a mandatory minimum applies only after a conviction. The Justice Department also described him as in the country illegally. That description is not one of the two drug counts the office announced.

According to allegations in the criminal complaint, on Oct. 13, 2026, a Lincoln County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped a pickup driven by Francisco Joel Garcia Farias, 26, on U.S. Highway 93 near Ash Springs, Nevada, after seeing it traveling above the posted speed limit, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada said. A trained narcotics-detection dog alerted to the vehicle. The office said a search then found 13 large storage totes holding vacuum-sealed packages.

The complaint alleges officers recovered about 187 packages of a white crystalline substance weighing approximately 307.22 kilograms, about 677 pounds, and 13 brick-shaped packages weighing approximately 14 kilograms, about 30 pounds, the office said. Field tests of selected samples were positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl, respectively. Those are suspected weights from the complaint, not a laboratory result presented to a jury. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah said 14 kilograms of fentanyl represents about seven million potentially lethal two-milligram doses, which she said was enough to kill more than twice the population of Nevada, and that combined with what she called over 650 pounds of methamphetamine the load had an estimated street value of about $2 million. Her remark used "over 650 pounds." The complaint allegation for the methamphetamine is approximately 307.22 kilograms, about 677 pounds.

Garcia Farias is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture containing fentanyl and one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life on each count, followed by five years of supervised release, the office said. The case is led by Homeland Security Investigations with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven J. Rose is prosecuting. The office's release identifies the case as 2:26-mj-00773-MDC. The U.S. Attorney's Office described him as an illegal alien in the announcement, and Fox News reported that the Justice Department identified him as an illegal immigrant. The counts the office announced are the two drug charges. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.