A former Sinaloa state official was arrested this month in a Utah hotel room with more than 100,000 fentanyl pills in his possession, U.S. authorities said.
Ricardo Verduzco Bernal, former head of the high-performance program at the Sinaloa Institute of Physical Culture and Sport, was detained in Salt Lake County on Aug. 12, according to an Aug. 20 statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Utah. He is currently in preventive detention awaiting trial.
Over 200,000 Fentanyl Pills Taken Off Utah Streets During Two Separate Unrelated Seizures
PRESS RELEASE: 🔗https://t.co/J4P7GFf1GC pic.twitter.com/m9luPFOsax
— US Attorney Utah (@USAO_UT) August 20, 2026
In its statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that “according to allegations contained in court documents, in August 2026, the FBI Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force initiated a criminal investigation on Bernal and co-conspirators, both known and unknown, associated with a drug trafficking organization believed to be distributing large quantities of fentanyl and other narcotics in the District of Utah.”
The suspect is referred to as Bernal throughout the statement, although his first surname is Verduzco.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that in August 2026, FBI agents “conducted a controlled purchase of fentanyl from Bernal.”
“As a result of the controlled purchase, agents obtained and executed a search warrant on a hotel room in Salt Lake County, Utah. On August 12, 2026, agents executed the search warrant, and Bernal was alone inside the room where agents located and seized approximately 11,160.65 grams of field-tested positive fentanyl,” the Attorney’s Office said.
“Agents estimated the fentanyl evidence to be approximately 111,000 fentanyl pills. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bernal is in the United States on a visitor visa.”
At the start of its statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Bernal and another Mexican national “were indicted by a federal grand jury after they were arrested and charged in two separate and unrelated cases that led to the seizure of approximately 204,000 fentanyl pills in one week.”
“Jesus Alexis Cecena Cota, 22, of Mexico, residing illegally in West Jordan, Utah; and Ricardo Verduzco Bernal, 54, of West Valley City, Utah, were charged in two separate complaints August 13, 2026,” the statement said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that “Bernal is scheduled for a jury trial on August 26, 2026, before a U.S. Magistrate Court Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.” He is accused of “possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.”
During a court appearance last Wednesday, the suspect maintained his innocence despite the discovery of the fentanyl in the hotel room where he was arrested.
Verduzco’s civil service career
Verduzco served as head of the high-performance program at the Sinaloa Institute of Physical Culture and Sport, a state government institute, during the governorship of Rubén Rocha Moya, who is also accused of drug trafficking by U.S. prosecutors. He left that position on July 31, according to the newspaper Milenio.
Verduzco previously served as the director of the Municipal Institute of Sport in Guasave, a city in Sinaloa around 150 kilometers northwest of the state capital, Culiacán. He occupied that position between 2022 and 2024. Before taking up that role, Verduzco was a manager with the Guasave water authority.
