Trujillo, Greggio are named Fontana P.D. Employees of the Month

Two officers who arrested a suspected drug dealer were named the Fontana Police Department’s Sworn Employees of the Month for November of 2022.

Officer Marcio Greggio and Officer Jorge Trujillo were honored during a recent Fontana City Council meeting.

The Fontana P.D. gave this account of the incident:

On Nov. 14 at about 7 a.m., Fontana P.D. Dispatch received a call regarding a suspicious occupied vehicle parked in a new neighborhood near Summit and Sierra avenues. The vehicle had not been seen in the neighborhood before, had out-of-state plates, and a person was sleeping inside. It had been parked in front of an address for about two hours.

Trujillo and Greggio responded to the location, found the described vehicle, and began to speak with the man inside. The person inside only spoke Spanish. Both Trujillo and Greggio speak Spanish and were able to ask the man questions about him being parked and sleeping in the area.

During the conversation, the person vaguely answered simple questions as to why he was parked in the neighborhood. He said he was there because he was tired from work and wanted to sleep for a little bit. He could not say where he worked but only that he worked near Fontana. He said he lived in Las Vegas and had no valid license to drive a vehicle.

While speaking with the man, officers noticed he was being evasive in his answers to simple questions, and that his attention seemed to be focused on the interior of the driver’s door. The man consented to officers searching him and his vehicle. While he was getting out of the vehicle, both officers could see in plain view a baggie with fine white powder in the driver side door panel. This was suspected to be cocaine.

At this point the man was detained. To ensure there were no other drugs or dangers inside the car, the officers continued their search of the vehicle. They ended up finding 1 1⁄2 pounds of fentanyl pills, 15 grams of heroin, and about 2.5 grams of cocaine. Officers also found almost $2,200 cash and paperwork indicative of drug dealing.

The officers were able to obtain a voluntary statement from the man after locating the drugs. The man said he lived in Nevada but went to Los Angeles to buy drugs to take back and sell in Nevada.

At the conclusion of the interaction, the man was arrested for possession of narcotics for sales and transportation. The vehicle was towed from the neighborhood.

Regarding the fentanyl specifically, there were an estimated 7,000 pills located during this investigation. At an approximate street value of $5 a pill, and being colored like Sweethearts candy, this undoubtedly made them more available and appealing to curious youth in the area, police said. Fentanyl is an extremely toxic drug that has caused many overdoses.

----- BOTH Trujillo and Greggio are assigned to patrol and primarily respond to radio calls north of the Route 210 Freeway. Both are college graduates, both speak more than one language, and both serve the city they reside in.

“Both are commended for answering the call of a concerned citizen who diligently noticed a suspicious vehicle,” said Fontana Police Chief Billy Green. “Both officers relied on their training, the law, and their instincts to provide the type of service that can be expected of Fontana Police officers while serving our great city. Their actions kept a large amount of dangerous drugs from getting into the hands of unsuspecting citizens or youth and may have saved lives.”