Woman accused of using children as fentanyl 'drug mules' indicted
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DALLAS - A woman from New Mexico who allegedly hid fentanyl inside of her children's luggage and provided her boyfriend a deadly dose of the drug has been charged with a federal crime.
46-year-old Magdalena Silva Banuelos was indicted on distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death.
According to court documents, Banuelos put her 8 and 10-year-old sons on a flight from Albuquerque to Dallas Love Field to visit their father on May 31.
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Surveillance video from Love Field shows the father picking up the children, going through their luggage and entering the airport restroom.
A few minutes later, he overdosed and died in the bathroom.
Investigators found a makeup container with more than a gram of fentanyl inside.
Investigators also recovered text messages between Banuelos and the victim.
"Hey you need to be careful," she wrote a few hours before he died.
"Yes ma’am. Very slow and easy," he wrote back.
"Just one and then wait you’ll see," she said. "Just one."
"Ok cool. Thank you. Will do," he replied.
"No passing out on the kitchen floor," she responded. "Seriously you could OD. No dying on the kitchen floor… It’s going to f*** you up!!!"
"To lose one parent due to the actions of the other is a calamity for a child," said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. "This defendant allegedly concealed fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin – in her own minor sons’ luggage. This drug has stolen too many futures and ruined too many lives. The Justice Department remains determined to hold accountable those who spread it."
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"The actions of Ms. Banuelos risked the lives of her minor children by concealing a highly potent drug in their luggage during a flight from Albuquerque to Dallas", said W. Guy Baker of the DEA Dallas Field Division
Banuelos still faces a trial.
If convicted, she faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison and could receive up to life behind bars.