By Crescenzo Vellucci
The Vanguard Sacramento Bureau Chief
SAN JOSE, CA – The U.S. Dept. of Justice Thursday said the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association has been arrested for allegedly attempting to illegally import controlled substances, including opioids and fentanyl, according to a KRON story.
The DOJ named Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, and accused her of using home and work computers to order “thousands of opioids to her home and agreeing to distribute them in the United States,” according to the DOJ statement.
The complaint stated, “Segovia used her personal and office computers to order the drugs between October 2015 and January 2023, including fentanyl. At least 61 shipments were mailed to her home from countries including Hong Kong, Hungary, and India.”
“This is an incredibly disturbing allegation. No one is above the law, regardless of who their employer is. 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.,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement to KRON4.
KRON reported law enforcement “first learned of the connection to Segovia, who has been with the SJPOA since 2003, when investigating a network in India that ships drugs into the United States.”
“A network operative’s phone was searched, and Homeland Security agents found messages that mentioned ‘J Segovia’ at an address in San Jose, including the words ‘180 pills SOMA 500mg,’” the complaint shows, said KRON.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection records indicated, according to KRON’s story, that “five shipments to Segovia’s address were intercepted between July 2019 and January 2023, noting the packages contained more than a kilogram of controlled substances such as Zolpidem (a sedative used to treat insomnia) and Tramadol (a narcotic used to treat pain), per the court document.”
KRON added the complaint said the packages mailed to Segovia’s home had “innocuous labels,” such as “Shirts Tops,” “Chocolate and Sweets” and “Gift Makeup,” and Homeland Security said, “shipments from several foreign countries with such labels often contain illicit drugs.”
