Elephant tranquilizer, fentanyl, meth, cocaine involved in 3 Arizona drug case sentences

Four people were sentenced recently in three unrelated Arizona drug cases, including a Chandler man caught with thousands of pills laced with an elephant tranquilizer, authorities announced Wednesday.

The cases were prosecuted by the Drug and Racketeering Enforcement Section of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

Chandler man sentenced for selling big game sedative

Julian Magana of Chandler was sentenced to 9.25 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sale or transportation of narcotic drugs.

Magana sold 10,000 carfentanil-laced pills to a confidential Chandler Police Department informant in December 2025 and was arrested days later while attempting to deliver 100,000 more, prosecutors said. Officers recovered 23.8 pounds of pills.

Carfentanil was originally developed as a sedative for large animals, including elephants, bears and rhinoceroses. In popular culture, it was the tranquilizer used in “Jurassic Park” to sedate the Tyrannosaurus rex.

It is a synthetic opioid roughly 100 times more potent than fentanyl, with just 2 milligrams capable of killing approximately 50 people.

200 pounds of methamphetamine captured along Interstate 10

In a separate case, Bryan Fidel Crisoto-Cabrera was sentenced in May to 7.5 years in prison. Chandler police stopped his car on Interstate 10 in January. They found 238 pounds of methamphetamine in a hidden compartment beneath his car.

Authorities said the drugs had an estimated street value of more than $1.5 million.

Crisoto-Cabrera told authorities he had driven the vehicle from Mexico and believed it contained drugs, prosecutors said.

Phoenix cocaine dealer sentenced

In a third case, Gilbert Borquez was sentenced to 8.75 years in prison after investigators found cocaine, fentanyl, marijuana, THC packaging and seven firearms inside the home he shared with Erika Acosta and three young children.

Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives stopped Borquez after he left the home carrying more than half a pound of cocaine.

Both Borquez and Acosta were charged with child abuse after the children were found home alone in what authorities described as an active drug sale location.

Borquez pleaded guilty to possession of narcotic drugs for sale, child abuse and misconduct involving weapons.

Acosta pleaded guilty to child abuse and was sentenced to two years of supervised probation.

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