Arizona Man Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison in Major Meth Trafficking Case

An Arizona man has been sentenced to seven years in state prison after being caught trafficking nearly 140 pounds of methamphetamine in his vehicle late last year.

On April 9, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the sentencing of Anthony Perez, who was pulled over during a traffic stop on westbound Interstate 10 by Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) troopers on Dec. 8.

During a search of the vehicle, Perez—who did not have a driver’s license—was found with 138.8 pounds of methamphetamine in duffel bags on the back seat.

“Drug traffickers who use Arizona’s highways to flood our state with dangerous drugs should know that my office and our law enforcement partners like AZDPS are watching, and there will be serious consequences,” Mayes said in a statement.

On Dec. 15, 2025, Perez was indicted by an Arizona grand jury on charges of transporting a dangerous drug for sale and possession or use of drug paraphernalia.

He pleaded guilty on March 4 to transporting a dangerous drug for sale, a Class 2 felony.

On April 2, he was sentenced to seven years in the Arizona Department of Corrections and ordered to pay more than $5,000 in fines and surcharges.

The estimated street value of methamphetamine is between $6,500 and $15,000 per kilogram, according to Recovered.org, bringing the estimated value of the drugs carried by Perez to between $409,240 and $944,400.

On May 15, 2025, AZDPS troopers announced that they had seized more than 900 pounds of illegal drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl, during traffic stops statewide from May 5 to May 10.

In the first major bust, troopers said, they discovered roughly 151 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in a flatbed trailer during a traffic stop.

Later that same day in northern Arizona, troopers conducted a separate traffic stop on a minivan. Inside, they found a concealed compartment containing approximately 432 pounds of cocaine.

Investigators determined that the cocaine was destined for Canada, where it has an estimated street value of $16.5 million.

On May 8, an additional nearly 150 pounds of methamphetamine and 60 pounds of suspected fentanyl-laced pills were also seized throughout the state in multiple operations, according to authorities.

The final significant seizure occurred on May 10, in southern Arizona, when troopers discovered 23 pounds of fentanyl pills, 28 pounds of cocaine, and 76 pounds of methamphetamine in the trunk of a sedan during a traffic stop.

In total, the estimated street value of the methamphetamine seized is approximately $385,000, and the fentanyl is valued at about $960,000.

“Seizures of these quantities are a sobering reminder of the ever-present threat of drugs to our communities,” Lt. Col. Deston Coleman, deputy director of the AZDPS, said in a statement.

In July 2025, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it had seized more than 44 million fentanyl pills, 4,500 pounds of fentanyl powder, nearly 65,000 pounds of methamphetamine, and 201,500 pounds of cocaine since Jan. 20 of the previous year.

The seizures also resulted in more than 2,105 fentanyl-related arrests.

“DEA is hitting the cartels where it hurts—with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure,” DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy said in a statement. “From meth labs in California to fentanyl pills disguised as pharmaceuticals seized at our border, these operations are saving American lives every single day.

“We are not slowing down. We are dismantling these networks piece by piece—and we won’t stop until the last brick of their empire falls.”