QuickTake:

They are among eight people in three states named in the case, in which authorities allege large amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl were shipped, at times hidden in toys or cereal boxes.

Two women living in Eugene and Springfield have been named in a criminal complaint alleging trafficking of methamphetamine and fentanyl into California from Mexico.

Julia Dorfler, 32, from Springfield, and Felicia Waite, 40, from Eugene, were local distributors for the alleged drug trafficking organization, Oregon’s U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday, April 30.

Eight individuals in three states have been named so far in the complaint, each suspected of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, according to court documents.

About 56 pounds of fentanyl and 116 pounds of methamphetamine have been seized by authorities, along with more than $300,000 and 20 firearms from members of the alleged drug trafficking organization, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Drug Enforcement Administration website states that 2 milligrams can be a fatal dose of fentanyl, making the amount of fentanyl seized equal to about 12.7 million such doses. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.

An affidavit from a detective with the Oregon State Police describes more than 9 pounds of fentanyl seized in Eugene and about 2.5 pounds of fentanyl seized in Springfield.

Springfield police and Eugene police were listed among federal and state law enforcement agencies investigating the alleged trafficking. 

Oregon co-conspirators

Rene Cazares, 39, is alleged to have run a stash house in Salem “receiving large amounts of controlled substances from couriers that he distributed at the direction of a co-conspirator to local Oregon customers,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Others from Oregon named in the complaint are: Matthew Medieros, 38, from Coos Bay, and Patrick Newport, 28, from Corvallis.

The drugs allegedly came into California and then were distributed into Oregon and elsewhere in the United States via shipping carriers like UPS, at times hidden in children’s toys or cereal boxes, as well as vehicles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and court documents.

The criminal complaint is based on alleged trafficking from April 2022 to the present, according to court documents.

Court documents describe an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 2022 contacting a Mexico-based WhatsApp number, then being told to meet an alleged drug and money courier in Eugene.

One of the people named in the complaint, a 47-year-old Las Vegas resident named Tania Argueta, provided the undercover agent with 99 grams of fentanyl at a Eugene gas station, according to an affidavit from a detective with the Oregon State Police.

Another seizure in Eugene took place after a Doc McStuffins children’s toy was shipped in 2024 via a UPS store in California to a Eugene address.

After getting a federal search warrant, authorities seized about 650 grams of fentanyl found in the package, which had been opened and resealed.

Among other seizures in Eugene and Springfield, after police surveilled a vehicle at Eugene hotel, the driver was pulled over and fentanyl was found in a Honeycomb cereal box on the vehicle’s floorboard. The affidavit stated that a police dog from the vehicle’s exterior alerted officers to the presence of drugs.