The executive director of the California Police Union ran the fentanyl operation from his home

The bureau chief of a Northern California police union allegedly imported illegal synthetic opioids from India and other countries, and on at least one occasion used her work computer and address and the union’s UPS account to ship the drugs within the country.

Joanne Marian Segovia, chief executive of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, has been charged with attempting to unlawfully import valeryl fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, federal prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.

As of 2015, Segovia had at least 61 shipments of drugs shipped to her San Jose home from India, Hong Kong, Hungary and Singapore, with manifests listing their contents as “wedding gifts,” “gift makeup,” “chocolate and candy,” “dietary supplements.” “, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday.

It was not immediately known if Segovia, 64, has a lawyer who can speak for her.

Joanne Marian Segovia, executive director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, has been accused of attempting to import valeryl fentanyl illegally from her home

Tom Saggau, a spokesman for the San Jose police union, said Segovia, a civilian, has worked for the union since 2003 and plans funerals for officers who die on the job and is the liaison between the department and the officers’ families and organization Office parties and fundraisers.

He said federal officials notified the union last Friday that Segovia was under investigation and that no one else in the union was involved or aware of Segovia’s alleged actions.

The revelation shocked her colleagues, Saggau said.

“We had no reason to suspect them,” he said, adding that the union’s board had pledged its full support to the federal investigation.

Federal prosecutors said that in 2019 US Customs and Border Protection officials intercepted a package sent to her home address containing $5,000 worth of tramadol, a synthetic opioid, and sent her a letter telling her that they would confiscate the pills. The next year, the CBP again intercepted a $700 shipment of tramadol and sent it a seizure letter, court records showed.

However, federal officials only began investigating Segovia last year when investigators found her name and home address on the cell phone of an alleged drug dealer who is part of a network that ships Indian-made controlled substances to the San Francisco Bay Area, according to the complaint .

This drug trafficking network has distributed hundreds of thousands of pills in 48 states, federal prosecutors said.

Segovia used the WhatsApp messaging service and its home and office computers to order thousands of opioid tablets and other pills to its home and agreed to distribute the drugs elsewhere in the United States, prosecutors said.

At least once in 2021, Segovia shipped the illegal drugs to a North Carolina address through the police union’s UPS account, prosecutors said. That address is linked to at least five illegal drug seizures, they said.

She allegedly imported illegal synthetic opioids from India and other countries, and on at least one occasion used her work computer and address (pictured) and the union’s UPS account to ship the drugs within the country

Investigators found hundreds of photos in a WhatsApp chat on Segovai’s phone, including an image of the UPS shipping slip and another of a computer screen showing a PayPal payment to an Indian name and the Segovia Police Union’s business cards underneath.

“From my training and experience, I know that controlled substance shippers often send receipts and tracking numbers as proof that they actually shipped a package.

I believe the receipt provided by Segovia was offered by her as proof that she sent a package to the North Carolina addressee,” David Vargas, a special agent with the Homeland Security Investigation, wrote in the affidavit.

According to the complaint, Segovia continued to order controlled substances even after being questioned by federal investigators in February.

On March 13, federal agents in Kentucky seized a package containing valeryl fentanyl addressed to Segovia. The package allegedly came from China three days earlier and declared its contents to be a “watch,” prosecutors said.