DA: Colorado man caught with enough fentanyl to kill nearly 300k people, sentenced

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Carlos Gonzalez-Del Hoyo, 44, was sentenced to 159 years in prison after being convicted on multiple drug charges. (Weld County DA)

Busted with enough fentanyl to kill hundreds of thousands of people, a Colorado man is set to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

What we know:

Carlos Gonzalez-Del Hoyo learned his fate last Friday when a Weld County, Colorado, judge sentenced him to 159 years in prison following his conviction on six drug-related charges. 

At the time of his arrest, Gonzalez-Del Hoyo, 44, was on parole after stealing a vehicle in nearby Adams County.

By the numbers:

Gonzalez-Del Hoyo had approximately 11 pounds of methamphetamine and around 6,000 pills containing fentanyl with him at the time of his arrest. 

"This defendant possessed enough fentanyl to kill 88% of Weld County’s population if the drugs would have been disseminated in our community," Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia said.

In 2020, more than 325,000 people lived in Weld County, according to census data. Based on Pirraglia’s estimate, that means Gonzalez-Del Hoyo had enough fentanyl to kill over a quarter-million people.

What they're saying:

"This sentence reflects the extreme danger this defendant’s large‑scale trafficking posed to Weld County," Pirraglia added in a statement announcing the sentence. 

"His actions were profit‑driven, and he preyed upon those with an addiction. We won’t tolerate this type of destruction in our community."

Timeline:

Authorities began investigating Gonzalez-Del Hoyo in September 2024 after they received a tip that the Aurora, Colorado, man was dealing a large amount of drugs across the northern part of the state. 

To help build their case, undercover officers bought narcotics off Gonzalez-Del Hoyo on multiple occasions.

He was arrested two months later, in November 2024, during a traffic stop.