The executive director of a local California police union has been accused of running a drug ring from her residence and using her office computer and UPS account to order and transport opioids and other narcotics, as declared by federal authorities.
Joanne Marian Segovia, who has been employed by the San Jose Police Officers Association since 2003, was indicted on Wednesday with attempting to unlawfully import a synthetic opioid called Valeryl fentanyl, for which she could potentially be sentenced to twenty years in federal prison if found guilty.
The union’s president, Sean Pritchard, was left aghast by the charges, telling NBC Bay Area, “She’s been the grandma of the POA. This is not the person we’ve known, the person who has worked with fallen officers’ families, organized fundraisers for officers’ kids — just not who we’ve known over a decade.”
According to the thirteen-page complaint, the sixty-four-year-old is thought to have received at least sixty-one packages at her San Jose home from countries including China, Canada, and India at various times between October 2015 and January 2023.
The parcels were supposedly marked as food supplements, wedding party favors, chocolates, makeup, and other items in order to disguise the drugs, prosecutors said. The packages instead contained a range of drugs, including Tapentadol and deadly synthetic opioids, which is usually utilized to treat severe pain for nerve damage caused by diabetes.
Prosecutors also assert that Segovia exchanged messages via WhatsApp between January 2020 to March 2023 with somebody making use of a country code from India.
In a message sent on May 2, 2022, Segovia purportedly wrote, “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 shopped as soon as I can.”
It is reported that Segovia also took a picture of a shipment she sent to a woman in North Carolina and employed the San Jose Police Officers’ Association UPS account. Homeland Security agents gained knowledge of Segovia’s activities while investigating a network located in India known to ship drugs into the US. Investigators found messages from the network that referred to “J Segovia” with a San Jose address and the words, “180 pills SOMA 500mg,” as stated in the complaint.
Although she had worked for the police union before she was suspended, it is not thought Segovia had any sort of history in front-line law enforcement.
According to the report, the worker continued to order drugs even after she had been interviewed by federal agents in February 2023. As a result of the seizure of a parcel addressed to Segovia in Kentucky, Segovia was arrested on March 13th. Based on the information provided by the authorities, the package was marked that it contained a “clock” and originated from China.
“This is an incredibly disturbing allegation,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. “I want to thank U.S. Attorney Ramsey and his colleagues for aggressively pursuing the sources of fentanyl coming into our communities and holding drug dealers accountable.”