The former Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy who was allegedly caught with more than 100 pounds of fentanyl pills last year was nabbed as part of a high-profile investigation into the cartel once led by the drug lord known as “El Chapo,” according to a report in the Press-Enterprise.

Banning resident Jorge Oceguera-Rocha, 25, resigned his position as a correctional deputy after his arrest in September 2023.

According to officials, he was driving his private vehicle in Calimesa when he was pulled over. Inside his car, investigators say they found a gun and 104 pounds of fentanyl pills.

Investigators did not detail how they learned of Oceguera-Rocha’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking, but now it’s apparent that he was the “corrupt Riverside County Correctional Deputy” mentioned in a Wednesday press release touting Operation Hotline Bling, the Press-Enterprise explained.

That operation, which led to 15 arrests and the seizure of $16 million in narcotics, was aimed at the Sinaloa cartel’s activity in the Inland Empire.

That cartel was once helmed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, perhaps one of the most prominent and powerful drug lords since the height of Pablo Escobar’s empire in the 1980s and early ’90s.