Police union director charged with importing and distributing opioids

The director of a California police union was charged with importing and distributing synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, across the country.

Joanne Mariann Segovia, the Executive Director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association was arrested and charged with unlawfully importing controlled substances.

The Justice Department alleges Segovia arranged for 61 shipments mailed to her home from foreign countries, including India, Hungary, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The packages were labelled as ‘Wedding Party Favors,’ ‘Gift Makeup,’ ‘Food Supplement,’ ‘Chocolate and Sweets,’ and ‘Health Product,’ but actually contained thousands of pills.

Investigators intercepted five of these packages between 2019 and 2023, and found they contained dangerous synthetic opioids, including Tramadol and Tapentadol.

According to the criminal complaint against her, agents from the Department of Homeland Security were tipped off to her involvement while they were investigating a network of distributers selling Indian-manufactured opioids in the San Francisco Bay area.

After searching the phone of one person in the network, they found the contact info for a ‘J Segovia,’ along with shipments to her home address.

Segovia originally cooperated with investigators and sat down for two voluntary interviews. During her first interview in February 2023, she originally claimed to know nothing about the pills, and claimed ‘I wouldn’t even know where to start’ the process to order drugs online.

However, she refused to let investigators view her CashApp transaction history.

In her second voluntary interview, conducted on March 14, Segovia blamed the shipments on her housekeeper, who she said used her CashApp account and smartphone to order the drugs to her house.

When investigators searched her smartphone, they found a WhatsApp conversation with a contact in India frequently referencing her job at the police union.

‘Im so sorry, im on a business trip because we had 2 officers that got
shot! I should be home tomorrow night so ill get them shipped as soon as i can,’ one message sent on May 2, 2022 reads.

The WhatsApp conversation also contained photo ‘receipts’ for sent packages, several of which appear to have been taken at her workplace.

‘Several items are visible in the area in front of the monitor, including a San Jose Police Officers’ Association letter opener with a business card containing Segovia’s name and notes containing apparent POA related codes,’ her criminal complaint states.

While investigators were searching through Segovia’s shipments from India, another suspicious package addressed to the police union chief was intercepted – this time originating from China.

The package, which was labelled ‘clock,’ contained a kit to construct a clock. However, it also contained adhesive stickers hiding doses of the notorious synthetic opioid fentanyl.

‘I believe that Segovia stopped ordering controlled substances from her previous supplier (apparently based in India) after HSI Agents interviewed her in February 2023 and began to order controlled substances from a new supplier, who is shipping from China,’ the investigating agent states in Segovia’s criminal complaint.

With this evidence, investigators executed a search warrant at Segovia’s home. They discovered hundreds of pills, including 73 doses of Tapentadol and 80 doses of orange pills simply labeled ‘G2.’ They also discovered another 283 Tapentadol pills at Segovia’s office.

Segovia has since been placed on leave from her job at the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

‘The POA has been fully and completely cooperating with the federal authorities as they continue their investigation,’ union spokesperson Tom Saggau said.

Saggau also confirmed that Segovia has been a civilian employee of the association since 2002. ‘We didn’t have any reason to suspect her,’ he said.

DHS informed the union that Segovia was under investigation on March 24, and said there was no reason to believe any other employees were involved in her scheme.

If convicted, Segovia a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and fine of up to $250,000.

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